Youth in Solitary Confinement
What is Nebraska doing with the growth of inmates?
Currently, a legislator from Nebraska is proposing a bill that would end the practice of “double-bunking” — two inmates held in a room designed for one — and place more limits on solitary confinement. The Department of Corrections and other governing departments have been facing multiple lawsuits regarding the incidence of such occurrences.
A few years ago, a 22-year-old inmate named Terry Berry was choked to death by his cellmate. The cellmate had told prison officials that he would kill Berry. The cellmate's words were left on deaf ears and they were “double-bunked” until the death of Berry occurred. After the incident, the cellmate was convicted of murder. Another similar incident happened in Feb. 2024 when Kevin Carter, a 20-year-old, was double-bunked with a paranoid murderer. Since prisons and jails are overcrowded and understaffed, double-bunking and extending solitary confinement have been a serious issue that affect youth.
In 2020, a new law was put in place to prevent incidents of youth in solitary confinement. Measures that have been put in place include: one hour of solitary confinement over 24 hours must be reported and approved, parents must be notified within a day of the solitary confinement, it can not be used as punishment or a result of staff shortages and it should only be used when they pose an immediate threat to themselves or those around them.
Unfortunately, the problem has only increased in recent years. In 2023, a 16-year-old was placed in solitary confinement for a week after getting in a fistfight over a water gun and shoving a staff member. The 2022-2023 Annual Report of Juvenile Room Confinement in Nebraska showed that there were 4,000 cases of juveniles in confinement rooms and 503 of them had a total confinement of over 56,900 hours (over 2370 days). One detention center, Douglas County Detention, was able to resolve 11% of incidents within 8 hours which has led to an average confinement time of 100 hours per youth in confinement.
It should come as no surprise that solitary confinement for juveniles is detrimental to their mental health. Juveniles in solitary confinement make up half of the suicides in juvenile facilities, many of which were held in confinement rooms multiple times. Additionally, youth are at greater risk of sexual assault in juvenile facilities and strip searches can feel violating to those who have experienced abuse. The governing body that is meant to protect and raise children to be upright citizens is the entity that is causing their demise. There have been many proposals for building new facilities to prevent overcrowded prisons but it has proved difficult because residents prefer to have prisons elsewhere.
Link 1 - links to the first paragraph info ---\/
Link 4 - bottom of pg 9 top of 10
Link 5 - 2020 law on solitary confinement (youth)
Link 6 - Numbers of youth confined
Link 7 - Water toy fight
Link 8 - suicides
Link 9 - none
by Stuart Cuateco