It's time to end juvenile solitary confinement, once and for all
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Version 0 of 1. Experts, editorial boards, doctors, Democrats and Republicans alike have all come to the same conclusion: it’s time to end the practice of juvenile solitary confinement in America. At any given time, 70,000 children and teenagers are held in a juvenile justice facility in the United States, and thousands of these young Americans are held alone in near-complete isolation in a space often not much larger than a closet. Some of these children’s stories have become national news, and their names synonymous with tragedy. The experiences of those like Kalief Browder, who was arrested for stealing a backpack, was never convicted, and who spent almost two years in solitary confinement – he took his own life after his release – should be anomalous in the failures they represent. But their experiences are far too ordinary. For each young person who has been held in solitary confinement whose names we have come to know because of their association with tragedy, there are thousands of youth we don’t know who receive the same treatment. The use of isolation for days, months or even years at a time as a tool to punish young people doesn’t make our communities any safer and is a practice that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has called for to be banned across the globe. It’s been proven, rather, that young people in solitary confinement can suffer from severe psychological and neurological damage, including depression, hallucinations, paranoia, anger and anxiety. Studies from the Department of Justice have found that approximately half of all suicides by incarcerated juveniles occurred in isolation and 62% of those who committed suicide had at one time been in solitary confinement. Time spent in severe isolation also hinders a young person’s cognitive, academic and behavioral development, making future rehabilitation and returning to normal activities like school even more difficult. There is no common-sense reason for our juvenile justice system to rely on such an archaic and injurious practice. It should focus on empowering young people in its care, not condemning them to a life of psychological damage and stripping them of their dignity. It is incumbent upon federal, state and local lawmakers to support rehabilitative policies for our nation’s incarcerated youth. Ending the overuse of juvenile solitary confinement has already found bipartisan consensus in the Senate, and President Obama has already taken action, instructing the Justice Department to end the use of room confinement for juveniles except for the most extreme situations – and even then, room confinement can only be in place for a limited period of time. But barring further action by Congress, this policy could be overturned by a future president. Congress therefore has a unique and urgent opportunity to act collectively and decisively to pass broad-based criminal justice reform that includes critical protections for children and teenagers in the justice system. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which I cosponsored, would make permanent the ban on the overuse of solitary confinement of juveniles tried in the federal system and would set an important precedent for states and localities across the country to follow. We only know the names of a handful of young people whose lives have been shattered by their experience in solitary confinement. There are undoubtedly more. But if we make common-sense changes to our justice system, perhaps we will learn some more of these young peoples’ names, not because of the tragedies they endured, but the triumphs they demonstrated because we lifted them up. |