President Obama recently banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons for low-level infractions. The President's reform put new rules in place such as reducing a max confinement to 60 days instead of 365 days He stated that Solitary confinement as a form of punishment is "overused and has the potential for devastating psychological consequences".
Great article, Nikki! I agree with the Presidential reform, solitary confinement causes a lot of psychological problems on top existing problems that juvenile offenders already face. I see isolation as a form of torture. Let's try things like treatment instead of solitary confinement.
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ReplyDeleteGreat minds think a like Nikki. I posted an article very similar to this by NPR. It is hard for me to wrap my head around that placing a child in a prison and solitary confinement is suppose to correct or help with the issue
ReplyDeleteIt is important to safe guard our youth and not continue a culture of power and abuse. I agree that sending youth to solitary confinement for a significant amount of time does not seem as supportive and rehabilitating. It seems more of an abuse of power, or where someone could send a "difficult" youth instead of providing support and services.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great sign of the direction that our nation is beginning to go when our president understands the implications of mental health and the importance of social relationships. Without these important human connections it is very unlikely that people will heal and progress toward a healthier life, but rather begin to spiral downward and become more ill and anti-social toward the society at large.
ReplyDeleteI don't like solitary confinement in prisons. I think the youth should a someone, a social worker, to talk to. Putting them alone isn't going to stop the problems from happening again. If they are able to talk through the problems and work on coping and conflict resolution skills it can help for future occurrences. Youth are confused most of the time and they need to be taught how to do things. If they aren't taught the problems will just continue. I think it is good he lowered the max days because none, especially a child, should be isolated for a long period of time. I hope they continue to work on this.
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