老澳门开奖结果

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 鈥� and psychologist 鈥� , who introduced Senate Bill ( last week. If passed, SB 61 would .

SB 61 is important, not only because it grows out of a growing nationwide call to end this practice that has such devastating effects on children, but because measures like these should serve as a model for policymakers nationwide.

There鈥檚 an important backstory here. In December, the United States Attorney General鈥檚 recommended that those responsible for detaining youth, 鈥渁bandon juvenile justice correctional practices that traumatize children and further reduce their opportunities to become productive members of society鈥� 鈥� . As the Task Force,

鈥淣owhere is the damaging impact of incarceration on vulnerable children more obvious than when it involves solitary confinement.鈥�

Thanks to Senator Yee, SB 61 is the first bill to act on this recommendation. The bill revises and improves a similar effort during last year鈥檚 legislative session, , drafted by the and Senator Yee, but which .

The 老澳门开奖结果 continues to support these efforts as part of its campaign to end juvenile solitary confinement.

In line with what should be a growing national trend, the provisions of would strictly regulate the isolation of juveniles:

• The bill would ban isolation of youth as a punishment and limit isolation to circumstances in which juveniles pose an immediate and substantial risk of harm to others or the security of the facility (and only after all less-restrictive options have been exhausted); as soon as the safety risk was addressed, the youth would be released.
• The bill would mandate that youth in isolation be evaluated 鈥� face to face 鈥� by a clinician within one hour of being isolated and every four hours after that. Youth who exhibit suicidal behavior or commit acts of self-harm would be moved to an offsite hospital or mental health hospital if the suicide risk is not resolved within 24 hours.
• The bill would mandate that facilities keep and make records documenting their use of isolation and make them available to public inspection.

We simply should not tolerate the solitary confinement of kids. The impact of this practice on 鈥� domestic and international experts assert that young people are and that the .

One young man who had been subjected to solitary confinement in an adult facility in California while he was under 18 to the 老澳门开奖结果 and Human Rights Watch:

鈥淏eing in isolation to me felt like I was on an island all alone[,] dying a slow death from the inside out.鈥�

The practice of holding youth in solitary confinement (which the 老澳门开奖结果 defines as physical and social isolation of 22 or more hours per day) should be banned nationwide 鈥� no matter where youth are held. All forms of isolation and segregation of youth should be strictly limited, regulated, and publicly reported. We should focus on rehabilitating young people so that they can become productive members of society 鈥� not treating them in a way that can cause them long-term damage.

Hopefully this bill will not only usher in needed change in California, but will generate momentum for a larger national trend toward eliminating solitary confinement practices that .

Learn more juvenile detention: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .