Louisiana Limits Solitary Confinement for Youth
ProPublica, June 22, 2022: Louisiana Limits Solitary Confinement for Youth
“Lawmakers in Louisiana passed new restrictions on the use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities following an investigation by The Marshall Project, ProPublica and NBC News into harsh conditions in a youth lockup.
“The law, which will go into effect Aug. 1, marks the first time that lawmakers in a state known as the world’s incarceration capital have put limits on solitary confinement for youth, advocates say.
“The news organizations’ investigation found that in one of the state’s facilities, the Acadiana Center for Youth at St. Martinville, boys as young as 14 were held in solitary confinement virtually around the clock for weeks. The boys were forced to sleep on the floor in the dark and were shackled when they left their cells to shower. In this facility, which opened last summer, the teens received no education for months, in violation of state and federal law.
“The conditions were so severe, one expert said, they amounted to ‘child abuse.’”
Additional reading:
NPR, January 25, 2016: Obama Bans Solitary Confinement For Juveniles In Federal Prisons
ACLU: Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons across the United States
Reveal: Watch Alone: Teens in Solitary Confinement
