American Civil Liberties Union

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.

In New York’s prisons, people caught with too many postage stamps in their cells can land a stint in extreme isolation – the harshest possible punishment in the state prison system.

Extreme isolation – locking one or two people in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day under conditions commonly understood as solitary confinement – should never be a disciplinary tool of first resort. In fact, the cruel and ineffective practice should be eliminated all together.

At its meeting in Pittsburgh earlier this month, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted by an overwhelming margin to accept a resolution recognizing that the use of solitary confinement can be a form of torture.

The Rabbinical Assembly, the national body of rabbis of Judaism’s Conservative Movement, has taken the step of becoming the first rabbinic organization to take a public stand against prolonged use of solitary confinement.