By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
Inmates call it the box or the hole. President Obama calls solitary confinement “an affront to our collective humanity.”
“Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells, 23 hours a day for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer,” the president said.
In a recent op-ed piece, the president announced an executive action to ban solitary confinement for juveniles and low-level infractions in federal facilities, expand treatment for the mentally ill and increase the time inmates in solitary spend outside cells — all reforms called for in legislation sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker who applauded the president.
“We know all the data shows putting a young person in solitary confinement can actually help foster mental health illnesses. Other nations have banned it, calling it torture,” Booker said.
“Solitary confinement has been used in New Jersey for all sorts of reasons, including punishment. Which has had really devastating impacts and effects on children throughout the state,” said Rutgers-Camden Law School Professor J.C. Lore. “It can increase the suicide rate of children. It can lead to a worsening of their disabilities.”
Experts can’t say how many kids in New Jersey’s juvenile justice system go to solitary — often called “room restriction.” But they welcome a law sponsored by Sen. Nellie Pou that severely curtails its use. She toured the juvenile cells.
“I know I can walk out of this room. That door is never going to slam on me and close shut. The kid in that room doesn’t have that ability. They know they will be there around the clock for whatever period of time. The law prior to my bill allowed that to happen,” she said.
The new state law limits juvenile solitary to eight working hours a day, with a minimum two hours for recreation and exercise and further restricts solitary to a maximum of two consecutive days for teens 15 and under; three days for 16- to 17-year-olds; and five days for 18 and up. Maximum — 10 days per month.
“What it outlaws is punitive isolation for children. If we’re isolating kids for protective custody or the behavioral accountability unit or for any reason, kids are subject to all the negative consequences associated with solitary confinement,” said ACLU-NJ Senior Staff Attorney Alexander Shalom.
“It’s not like we can put a kid in a corner to take a time out,” said Essex County Juvenile Detention Center Director Dennis Hughes.
At Essex County’s Juvenile Detention Center, which has been cited for excellence, the director says teens normally get “room restriction” for only a couple hours at a time and there’s intervention. They already comply with the new law.
“Once you make that move, once you separate this individual from the action and the crowd, you can find out what’s going on and if that is taken from us, then there’s very little we have,” Hughes said.
New Jersey’s reform law also requires transparency, and advocates say they’re going to monitor its implementation to make sure kids don’t get locked up and left in the box.