By Hana Ikramuddin
The Middletown Press, Conn.
CHESHIRE, Conn. — The Manson Youth Institution, a correctional facility for men and boys under age 21, will end the use of “disciplinary isolation” as a tool to manage children’s behavior in an agreement between the U.S. Justice Department and the Connecticut Department of Correction.
The decision to end the isolation comes along with other agreements made between the facility and the Justice Department, including a behavior management program and a skills-based curriculum that includes daily, structured activities, according to a news release from the U.S. Justice Department. The facility must also do mental health assessments and provide special education services for kids who need it, the department said.
The facility currently holds 282 inmates, including 51 boys under 18, according to Connecticut Department of Correction data from Aug. 1.
In 2021, the Justice Department notified the facility that it had concluded that children’s conditions were in violation of the Eighth and 14th Amendments and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, according to the Justice Department. The findings came after investigators reviewed 31,000 pages of documents, toured the facility in 2020, and held interviews with staff, counselors and mental health experts, it said.
Though Manson’s solitary confinement for disciplinary use is called “Confined to Quarters,” (CTQ), children and some staff called it “The Box,” federal investigators said. If security decided a child should be sent to isolation, the child was brought into the isolation unit, strip searched, given a jumpsuit and placed in an empty cell without any personal items, the Justice Department said.
In the video below, Gordon Graham discusses the isolation of juvenile offenders and the importance of having a solid policy to guide correctional efforts.
“We know that isolation can cause real harm to children — increasing risk of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide — because their brains are still developing and they lack adequate coping mechanisms,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “Placing a child in an ‘adult facility’ does not make children any less vulnerable to these risks. Nationally, more than 2,000 children each year are held in jails and prisons designed for adults. Too often, adult facilities fail to provide children with the age-appropriate services and care essential to development of the requisite skills to become healthy and productive adults, including educational and mental health services required by law. We are committed to protecting the constitutional and federal rights of children throughout the criminal and juvenile justice systems.”
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