Protect the Human Rights of Ohio’s Children and Stop their Placement in Solitary Confinement!

Stop Solitary for Ohio’s Youth is committed to eliminating the harmful practice of secluding youth in adult jails and prisons, state youth correctional facilitates, local juvenile detention centers, and residential treatment facilities.

There is no law in Ohio which prohibits the placement of kids in solitary confinement in juvenile or adult facilities. Kids as young as 10, may be kept in cells no larger than a bathroom without windows for 22+ hours a day. Youth in solitary confinement are often denied meaningful programming, education, and recreation contributing to poor outcomes and recidivism.

No matter the age or amount of time placed in solitary, people can experience trauma, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts. Since youth are still developing, the effects are even more detrimental.  A growing number of states and leading organizations, including the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the United Nations, The Anne E. Casey Foundation, and The American Civil Liberties Union, are against solitary confinement of young people. There are no mandatory guidelines in Ohio for: monitoring facilities that use seclusion; for regulating or reporting its use even for brief periods of time; or protocols for responding to youth who have experienced seclusion.

I’m signing this petition to tell Governor Kasich that Ohio youth should not be subjected to solitary confinement and that all facilities that may use forms of seclusion on youth be monitored.  

To read the full petition click here. To read the fact sheet click here.