Gordon Graham
Category: Corrections

Gordon Graham here with Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Today’s Tip is for our friends who work in the juvenile detention profession, (and just a side note a very important component of the criminal justice system) and Today’s Tip deals with isolation of juvenile offenders for misbehavior or misconduct. 

Know your state’s standards and, of course, your agency policy, and follow them before you isolate a juvenile offender. 

I recently read a case out of the Pacific Northwest, where a juvenile offender was isolated for 8 days, that’s 8 days, and fed an alternative menu as punishment for continued misbehavior. 

A well-known civil liberties advocacy group got wind of it and they sued the juvenile detention facility in question, ultimately settling the case for $45,000. 

So let me ask you this question: What does your policy say on this matter? My guess is that isolation can only be done for a limited number of hours, but certainly not days! 

Why? Because kids, whether they’re locked up or not, are different than adults. It really comes down to just that. Think about it, today’s youth are overstimulated to begin with. Now we want to take away all stimuli for days on end and put them in a room or a cell by themselves with little or nothing to keep them occupied? To me that sounds like a big problem lying in wait! 

Know your state’s standards and, of course, your agency policy, and follow them before you isolate a juvenile offender. 

And that’s Today’s Tip from Lexipol. Gordon Graham signing off.