Report Shows How Youths Suffer Serious Harm From Weeks, Months in ‘Lock-Down’
Contact: Steven Gosset, ACLU national, 212-549-2666; [email protected]
Dotty Griffith, ACLU of Texas, (713) 942-8146; [email protected]
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch will hold a conference call on Wednesday, October 10, 2012, at 10 a.m. ET (9 a.m. CT) for the launch of the report “Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States.”
HRW and the ACLU estimate that in 2011, more than 95,000 young people under age 18 were held in prisons and jails. Some are held in solitary confinement in jails and prisons across the United States, often for weeks or months at a time. The isolation of solitary confinement causes anguish, provokes serious mental and physical health problems, and works against rehabilitation for teenagers. There are other ways to address the problems officials cite to justify using solitary confinement, while taking into account the rights and special needs of adolescents.
Texas is highlighted in the report
The ACLU believes federal and state governments should ban placing youth in solitary confinement, prohibit housing adolescents with adults or in jails and prisons designed to house adults, and strictly regulate and monitor all forms of isolation of young people.
What: Release of major national report: “Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in
Jails and Prisons Across the United States”
Who: Ian Kysel, Aryeh Neier Fellow with ACLU and Human Rights Watch;
Amy Fettig, Senior Staff Attorney, National Prison Project
When: Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 9 a.m. (CT)
Where: (800) 288-8975; confirmation number: 259482.
Note to journalists: The report is under embargo until the start of the news conference.
