By Ian Kysel, Aryeh Neier Fellow, ACLU Human Rights Program at 11:17am
Good news for kids in California who are locked in isolation in juvenile facilities: the state could effectively end the solitary confinement of youth in juvenile facilities this year. This desperately needed development comes care of Senator – and psychologist – Leland Yee of California, who introduced Senate Bill (SB) 61 last week. If passed, SB 61 would limit the use of solitary confinement of juveniles.
By Georgeanne M. Usova, Washington Legislative Office & Alana Kuhn, Law Clerk, Washington Legislative Office, ACLU at 9:18am
Every parent should be able to send their child off to school knowing that he or she will spend the day in a safe environment. For many parents across the nation, however, that peace of mind was shattered by the unthinkable tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. Today, the House of Representatives will take up the issue of school safety with a hearing in the House Education and Workforce Committee. The ACLU has submitted a statement suggesting ways to ensure that schools are safe places for students to learn, grow, and thrive.
As a mother, not being able to hug and comfort my son when he was alone in a concrete box is like the worst form of hell.
Knowing our son Kirk ended his own life while being held in solitary confinement, after he requested to not be left alone… I cannot describe that to you.
Kirk was only 17. It was two days after Christmas.
By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 6:43pm
Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed California’s Senate Bill 9, the Fair Sentencing for Youth Act, giving California youth sentenced to die in prison a second chance at life. There are 309 child offenders serving life-without-parole sentences in California for murders committed when they were younger than 18. The bill, known as SB 9, gives these individuals the chance to earn parole after serving at least 25 years in prison. It allows juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole to petition the sentencing court to review their cases after 15 years and reduce their sentence to 25 years-to-life if they show remorse and are taking steps toward rehabilitation.
By Ian Kysel, Aryeh Neier Fellow, ACLU Human Rights Program at 11:23am
Kids are being kept in solitary confinement, often for days and weeks at a time, supposedly “for their own good” – to protect them from adult prisoners – or punish them for bad behavior. But long-term solitary confinement isn’t good for anyone. In fact, isolation can be psychologically shattering for anyone, and it is especially harmful to young people.
In a new report out today from the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, “Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States,” I explore how the isolation of solitary confinement causes anguish, provokes serious mental and physical health problems, and works against rehabilitation for teenagers. The report is based on my own interviews and correspondence with more than 125 young people in 19 states who spent time in solitary confinement while under age 18, as well as with jail and/or prison officials in 10 states.
By Amy Fettig, ACLU National Prison Project at 11:41am
In 2003, Congress took an important first step in addressing a national tragedy: epidemic levels of rape and sexual abuse in our nation’s prisons, jails and youth detention centers. The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), passed unanimously in Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, called for the development of binding national standards for the prevention, detection, response and monitoring of sexual violence behind bars. After nine years, these standards were finally released by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this month. They represent the first national effort to hold correctional facilities accountable for abuse while at the same time instituting policies and procedures that will help prevent abuse in the first place.
Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights will hold a landmark hearing entitled, Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline. It is the first time a congressional panel will look at this disturbing national trend where children are pushed out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems because of an overreliance on punitive school discipline policies.
As any parent knows, teenagers are different than adults. This common-sense observation is backed by hard scientific evidence; we know that an adolescent’s brain continues to grow and develop well into his or her twenties. The fact that teenagers’ brains are still developing makes them especially vulnerable to trauma of all kinds, including the trauma of social isolation and sensory deprivation.
That’s why the leading American child psychiatry association just approved a policy statement opposing the use of solitary confinement in correctional facilities for juveniles. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry represents over 7,500 child and adolescent psychiatrists and other interested physicians.
By Tanya Greene, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 2:31pm
The ACLU's Amy Fettig appeared before the U.N. Human Rights Council today to condemn the use of solitary confinement in the United States, following a written statement we submitted last month urging the Council to address this widespread violation of human rights. Also appearing today was Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, who has said before that solitary confinement can amount to torture and today called for a review and reduction of the use of solitary confinement as a matter of human rights. Mendez has also called on the United States to allow him to visit to investigate the use solitary confinement in U.S. supermax prisons; the U.S. has yet to respond.
