Governor OKs Restrictions on Confinement of Juveniles
A recently signed bill seeks to stop Nebraska correctional facilities from placing juveniles in solitary room confinement as a disciplinary sanction, due to staff shortage or as retaliation.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed LB 230 last week. The bill, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, allows for room confinement – which is the involuntary restriction of a juvenile to a room or other area alone – only when all other less-restrictive alternatives have been exhausted and the juvenile poses a serious and immediate security threat.
When room confinement is used, a notice to the youth’s parents or guardians as well as their attorney will be required within one business day.
The Legislature passed the bill Feb. 6 on a 44-0 vote. Ricketts gave the bill approval Feb. 12.
The governor said through a spokesman that the bipartisan measure received broad support from state lawmakers.
“LB 230 will help ensure confinement of juveniles is appropriately administered,” said Taylor Gage, the governor’s spokesman.
The ACLU of Nebraska praised the bill as the result of a four-year campaign to end juvenile solitary confinement in Nebraska, beginning with the group’s “Growing Up Locked Down” report.
That report characterizes the use of juvenile solitary confinement as a violation of the U.S. Constitution, Nebraska State Constitution and the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
The Office of Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare found last November that juvenile room confinement has continued to be relied upon in state correctional facilities, with little change over the past three years.
A total of 631 youth age 12 to 18 were subjected to room confinement in 2018-19, OIG said. The confinement was most typically used following “physical assault, verbal assault, administrative reasons and behavioral infractions/rule violations.”
The ACLU gathered hundreds of signatures on a petition in support of LB 230, which also earned support from Voices for Children in Nebraska and the Nebraska Psychological Association.
“This is nothing short of a historic moment,” Scout Richters, legal and policy counsel at the ACLU of Nebraska, said in a statement. “Nebraska effectively banned solitary confinement for children as we know it. We know young Nebraskans in the juvenile justice system need education, treatment, and rehabilitation – not weeks and months alone in confinement.”
Richters noted the bill stops a practice that negatively impacts children for the rest of their lives. In addition, the practice has been disproportionately used on youth of color, the ACLU stated.
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