President moves to ban solitary confinement for juveniles

Four months after a Fusion investigation into the horrors of juvenile jails highlighted the practice, President Obama announced Monday night that he would ban solitary confinement for minors in federal prisons, part of a broader plan that could improve conditions for 10,000 inmates nationwide.

Writing that solitary confinement has been “increasingly overused … with heartbreaking results”, Obama said he was ordering federal penitentiaries to cease using the punishment on juvenile offenders – in the federal justice system, those under 18 – and on prisoners who committed non-serious offenses. “How can we subject prisoners to unnecessary solitary confinement, knowing its effects, and then expect them to return to our communities as whole people?” he wrote. It doesn’t make us safer. “We believe, in the words of Pope Francis, that ‘every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes, ‘” Obama wrote.

But Obama said he hopes the federal action will also “serve as a model for state and local corrections systems”, where most prisoners – and the vast majority of juveniles – are housed.

Based on the reporting in Prison Kids, Fusion launched a petition to urge Obama to end solitary confinement for minors, in line with recommendations from the Department of Justice.

The president begin his op-ed by recounting the story of 16-year-old Bronx resident Kalief Browder, who was sent to Rikers Island in 2010 to await trail after stealing a backpack.

Obama says the practice of isolating prisoners can cause long-term psychological effects, particularly when used to punish young offenders and the mentally ill.

At least a dozen states have taken steps in the past two years to curtail the use of solitary confinement, either in response to lawsuits or through legislative and administrative changes.

The ban is “absolutely huge”, she said.

Browder was released in 2013 having never stood trial but struggled to cope from the trauma of being locked up all alone for 23 hours each day and killed himself at the age of 22. In July he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, and he has spoken candidly about issues like prison rape and criminal re-entry programs.