The city’s Department of Correction’s commissioner said Friday that a solitary confinement ban bill working its way through the City Council would “place our jails in a state of anarchy.”

Commissioner Louis Molina’s comments came during an appearance on “Mornings On 1,” in which he stressed that the city does not utilize solitary confinement or punitive segregation, but rather a practice called “restrictive housing.”

“Those who are in restrictive housing get out-of-cell time up to seven hours and a lot of intensive behavioral programing. So, what’s described in that bill is banning something that does not exist – but highly restricts the department from being able to remove someone who commits a violent act against another incarcerated individual or a staff member. And allows them to re-victimize someone else again,” Molina said.

The commissioner has previously spoken out against the measure, which already has a veto-proof majority of 36 council members, saying restrictive housing is a necessary tool in dealing with violent inmates.

However, supporters of the legislation have noted that the practice in city jails leads to increased violence and poses potential mental health risks to inmates.

Molina said Friday that he understands the concerns from lawmakers and inmate advocates, but noted that he would like more time to get Rikers Island under control.

“The jail was highly mismanaged for over eight years. There was no level of accountability for persons in custody – for persons of staff that didn’t meet our level of expectation in doing the job that they needed to do,” Molina said.

“So, I get their frustrations. But the mayor appointed me to lead the Department of Corrections – to turn the department around. They have to give me the time in order to do that. It took us a decade to get to this point, we’re not gonna solve this is just a few months,” he said.