Students move aqainst solitary confinement of juveniles

Take Part - Student organizers at nine universities are joining forces to make it clear they care deeply about the movement to reform our country’s criminal justice system. In particular, [the] campaign will tackle the solitary confinement of juveniles.

The campaign addresses kids who are confined in adult jails and prisons, of whom there approximately 10,000 on any given day. There is no data on the number of children kept in solitary confinement in state or federal facilities. But according to investigations conducted by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, the solitary confinement of youths occurs across the country, especially in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Especially for youths in the criminal justice system, prolonged social and physical isolation has been shown to cause psychological damage and incite physical self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

Castro is working alongside student organizers at eight other schools, in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union, to collect signatures and petition the attorney general to end the federal practice of keeping kids in solitary confinement. In spite of numerous campaigns and letters from elected officials over the years, the U.S. government has not formally banned the practice at the federal level.