America's official child abuse: Kids in jail routinely subjected to solitary confinement -- Society's Child -- Sott.net

12.10.12

America's official child abuse: Kids in jail routinely subjected to solitary confinement -- Society's Child -- Sott.net: No other nation in the developed world routinely tortures its children in this manner. And torture is indeed the word brought to mind by a shocking report released today by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. Growing Up Locked Down documents, for the first time, the widespread use of solitary confinement on youth under the age of 18 in prisons and jails across the country, and the deep and permanent harm it causes to kids caught up in the adult criminal justice system. 

Ian Kysel, author of the 141-page report, interviewed or corresponded with more than 125 young people who had spent time in solitary as children in 19 states. To cope with endless hours of extreme isolation, sensory deprivation and crippling loneliness, Kysel learned that some children made up imaginary friends or played games in their heads. Some hid under the covers and tried to sleep as much as possible, while others found they could not sleep at all. 

"Being in isolation to me felt like I was on an island all alone dying a slow death from the inside out," a California teen wrote in a letter to Human Rights Watch.