When President Barack Obama announced last month that he is taking executive action to ban the solitary confinement of juveniles in federal prisons, it was a rare case of Washington setting policy more liberal than what comes out of Sacramento.
In California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature, bills to restrict the use of solitary confinement on youth have stalled for the last four years amid objections from labor and law enforcement groups that run juvenile halls.
Now, citing the “enormous mental health impacts” the practice has on youth, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) is hoping that Obama’s action will bring momentum to the issue in California. He’s preparing to introduce a new version of his bill that died last year to limit the use of solitary confinement in state and county-run juvenile detention centers.
“You have to remind yourself that these children are in our system to begin with because they are troubled,” Leno said. “They’ve got mental health issues when they come through our door, and we exacerbate their problem.”
Yet even with the nation’s most powerful Democrat in his corner, Leno is up against a formidable challenge: the influential law enforcement lobby. The unions that represent prison guards are major campaign donors in Sacramento and many politicians are reluctant to cross them.
To continue reading this article by Laurel Rosenhall, go to: https://calmatters.org/article...nement-of-juveniles/
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