Young Teens Will No Longer Be Locked In Solitary On Rikers
Gothamist
In July, the State Advisory Board of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing on the use of solitary confinement for juveniles to determine whether it violated the rights of youth of color and mentally ill youth. According to the Department, there are currently 51 adolescents in solitary.Johnny Perez, now an adult working as the safe reentry coordinator for the Urban Justice Center, hails this as a positive first step. "There's still work to do," he added, "especially since we know that the brain is not developed until the age of 25. Ultimately we need to expand the conversation to include kids up to 25-year-olds and exclude all 16- to 25-year-olds from solitary confinement altogether." Based on his own experiences with the culture of violence on the island, Perez also advocates for removing all 16- to 21-year-olds from Rikers altogether.