Corrections_Today_May_June_2019

nEWS & vIEWS

in New York, Washington, Tennessee and Wisconsin have entered orders against facilities for putting young people in room confinement. Federal litigation has resulted in state agen- cies and county facilities paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement agreements and attorney fees. 4 Legislation in California, Colo- rado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Seattle and Washington D.C. has limited the use of room confine- ment in juvenile facilities. Several other states, including Florida, New Mexico and Nebraska, are currently considering similar legislation. 5 In December 2018, Congress passed two bipartisan federal laws that will affect the use of room confinement: the First Step Act and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). 6,7 In keeping with the recommendations of juvenile justice, mental health and medical experts, the First Step Act prohibits facilities that house youth in federal custody from using room confine- ment as punishment and permits room confinement only when youth behavior poses a risk of immediate physical harm that cannot other- wise be de-escalated. Youth must be released as soon as they are calm, and always within three hours. Although it applies only to youth in federal custody, the First Step Act sets an im- portant example for state legislation by establishing the definition of room confinement for juveniles as “the involuntary placement of a covered juvenile alone in a cell, room or other area for any reason.” 8 The JJDPA reauthorization bill, or H.R. 6964, incentivizes states to implement similar reforms. The act now requires states to provide data on

confinement for youth including prohibiting its use as punishment or discipline. 9 In 2017, ACA introduced new proposed standards on the use of restrictive housing for juveniles. The standards permit isolation only as an immediate response to disruptive behavior that threatens the safety and security of the youth or others, never as discipline or punishment. 10 In 2014, leaders of the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA) identified reducing room confinement as a key issue on which the organization should provide information to the field. CJCA is the largest membership organization for youth correctional administrators in state juvenile corrections systems in the United States. In 2015, CJCA published an online toolkit, “Reduc- ing the Use of Isolation,” as a guide for correctional professionals on key strategies to reduce room confine- ment. 11 CJCA’s position is that room confinement should be used only to protect youth from harming them- selves or others and if used, should be for a short period and supervised. 12 CJCA also published several policy briefs and a multi-year technical assistance program for facilities on reducing room confinement. Several state and local jurisdic- tions have successfully reduced room confinement. The Colorado Division of Youth Services, for example, decreased isolation by 68 percent from October 2016 to July 2018. Youth-on-staff assaults are also down 22 percent. 13 After routinely using room confinement for over 22 hours per day, the Shelby County Juvenile Detention Facility in Memphis virtually eliminated the use of room confinement by setting

the use of isolation in juvenile facili- ties. It also requires states to describe how they will reduce isolation and other dangerous practices through policies, procedures and training in juvenile facilities. Finally, the act re- quires federal training and technical assistance to support these goals. Success is within reach As developments in legislation, litigation and other strategies call for reforms for the use of room confine- ment in youth facilities, most of the responsibility for implementing those reforms falls to state and local facilities. Staff members in juvenile justice facilities are on the front lines in the changing landscape of room confinement practices. Fortunately, national organiza- tions for juvenile detention and correctional professionals have addressed the issue of room confine- ment. The National Partnership for Juvenile Services, in 2014, and the National Commission on Correc- tional Health Care, in 2016, adopted positions in favor of limiting room Staff members in juvenile justice facilities are on the front lines in the changing landscape of room confinement practices.

14 — May/June 2019 Corrections Today