Nationally, on any given night, approximately 81,000 youth are confined to juvenile facilities and 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons. Approximately 1 in 10 young male high school dropouts is incarcerated or in juvenile detention. For African Americans, that number is 1 in 4. Research shows that just over two million youth under the age of 18 were arrested in 2008. Of these two million, about 95 percent had not been accused of violent crimes. In 2010, of the nearly 100,000 youth under the age of 18 who were serving time in a juvenile residential placement facility, 26 percent had been convicted of property crimes only, such as burglary, arson, or theft. Access to education both stems the tide of incarceration and improves inmates chances of re-acclimating to society after their release.
“While New York has long had the power to transfer inmates, defense lawyers and inmate advocates criticized the increase as an end-run around the city’s own rules, adding that it undermined Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise to reform the criminal justice system.“
New York Times
December 28, 2018
Read More“One juvenile inmate, referred to in the report as “John Doe,” whose case served as the focal point for the Disability Rights investigation, spent approximately 99 of his first 234 days in solitary confinement, according to Disability Rights' findings.“
Billings Gazette
September 17, 2018
Read More"Three years ago, when New York City banned solitary confinement for inmates younger than 22 and curtailed it for others, Mayor Bill de Blasio held up the policy as a model for reform. But since the rules were approved, the city has stepped up a longstanding practice of transferring some inmates to correctional facilities elsewhere in the state where no such restrictions exist."
New York Times
July 22, 2018
Read More"Solitary confinement is merely one symptom of the cruel and inhumane practice of incarcerating children in adult jails and prisons. Studies confirm what common sense tells us: young people are safer, and do better, when they are in age-appropriate settings with other youth. The community is safer as well."
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 12, 2018
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