Ian Manual was placed in solitary confinement in a Florida prison at the age of 15.
He stayed there for 18 years.
Kalief Browder, arrested at 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack, spent two years in solitary confinement at New York’s Rikers Island facility. He ultimately took his own life “due in part to the violence and psychological damage he suffered,” his family told NBC News.
According to the Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center, solitary confinement proves especially damaging to youth “because the brain grows and develops during one’s adolescent and teenage years, specifically the frontal lobe region, which is responsible for cognitive processing, impulse inhibition and consideration of consequences.” About 70% of youth in the juvenile justice system already have a preexisting mental disorder and nearly all have experienced trauma, something often aggravated by solitary confinement. The American Academy of Pediatrics has found that restrictive housing, in most instances, is not “developmentally appropriate or a safe, effective way to care for youth in correctional settings,” and has called for clearer guidelines on the use of the practice.
The harm of solitary confinement is both physical and psychological. Such strict confinement often results in a deprivation of exercise and adequate nutrition, leading to stunted growth and physical development. Solitary confinement also impacts social development, leaving youth isolated from loved ones, educational resources and mental health supports.
Why Is Solitary Confinement Used?
Sometimes, room isolation is one of the only available options detention facilities have in certain circumstances. Justifications for the use of solitary confinement include addressing staffing needs. For example, the Ohio Corrections Institution Inspection Committee conducted an unannounced visit to the state’s juvenile justice facilities, as is permitted by statute. The inspection revealed that at one prison, the Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility in Massillon, children spent 116,000 hours in solitary confinement last year compared with 35,000 hours in 2023. Separation hours in Ohio increased after a new Department of Youth Services policy permitted separation hours anytime a housing unit is below minimum staffing, which happens weekly. But Ohio is not alone, and the information gleaned from inspection reveals the importance of legislative oversight of such facilities.
The federal Prison Rape Elimination Act states that young people must be kept apart from adult offenders. In rural jurisdictions or jurisdictions that lack enough resources to provide separate facilities, young people might be placed in solitary confinement to comply with federal law.
In other instances, the use of room confinement is necessary for the safety of staff or other young people in the facility. Thirty-five states allow by statute the limited use of solitary confinement where a juvenile poses a threat of escape or threat of harm to themselves or another.
Limiting the Use of Juvenile Solitary Confinement
Though the use of solitary confinement of young people continues, so do legislative efforts to tailor its use.
Twenty-nine states have banned the use of punitive solitary confinement through statute, regulation, policy or court order. This means a young person cannot be placed in solitary confinement strictly as punishment.
Thirty-seven states, through statute, regulation, policy or court order, have placed at least some limits on the use of juvenile solitary confinement by identifying appropriate justifications for its use. For example, Illinois in 2023 prohibited the use of solitary confinement of young people for any purpose other than preventing immediate physical harm.
States are also limiting the length of time isolation may be used. For example, Oklahoma imposes a limit of three consecutive hours, and Massachusetts requires observation of the confined young person every 15 minutes. Some states, such as Nebraska, have statutorily required facilities to ensure that “all rooms used for room confinement shall have adequate and operating lighting, heating and cooling, and ventilation for the comfort of the juvenile. Rooms shall be clean and resistant to suicide and self-harm. Juveniles in room confinement shall have access to drinking water, toilet facilities, hygiene supplies and reading materials approved by a licensed mental health professional.”
Since 2020, at least five states have limited the use of isolation or solitary confinement of young people. Louisiana prohibited its use in 2022 for any reason other than a temporary response to behavior that poses a serious and immediate threat of physical harm to the juvenile or others.
A 2023 Minnesota law eliminated the use of juvenile solitary confinement as a punishment, but allowed it to be used for a juvenile’s safety, staff safety or the safety of other facility residents. The bill requires the commissioner to annually report to the Legislature the length of each isolation period used and, for young people isolated in the previous year, the total cumulative amount of time that the youth was isolated that year; the report must also detail any injury related to isolation, and identify any facility that used isolation in a manner that did not comply with legal requirements. The 2024 report asserts that although disciplinary room time was prohibited in 2023, the state Department of Corrections replaced disciplinary room time with “safety-based separation.” While the department does not currently have a system in place to track or collect data on the use of disciplinary room time or safety-based separation, it is finalizing a reporting mechanism for use in 2026.
For an in-depth overview of current solitary confinement practices in the states, please refer to NCSL’s database on The Use of Solitary Confinement on Youth.
Jessica Guarino is a policy analyst and Anne Teigen is an associate director in NCSL’s Civil and Criminal Justice Program.