New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed a bill limiting the use of solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. The new law prohibits the use of solitary except when there is “reasonable cause to believe that the inmate or others would be at substantial risk of serious harm as evidenced by recent threats or conduct.” The New Jersey law also carves out special protections for LGBTQ, disabled, elderly, young or disabled prisoners. It also caps the number of consecutive days prisoners can be held in solitary confinement at 20. In 2011, a United Nations expert on torture called on the U.S. and other nations to ban solitary confinement except in very exceptional circumstances, saying the practice could amount to torture.