Please take a few minutes to send a letter of support in for SB 124 in order to PREVENT AND SEVERELY LIMIT THE USE OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN STATE AND COUNTY JUVENILE LOCK-UPS.
Directly below is a sample letter.
Letters need to be faxed to Senator Loni Hancock (Chair of the Public Safety Committee) – (916) 445-4688 – with a fax also going to the bill’s author Senator Mark Leno – (916) 651-4911. Let us know when your letter goes in, so we can make sure it is registered as support by the committee.
Thanks you!!!
Please print on your organization’s/church’s letterhead.
[DATE]
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
Senate Public Safety Committee
Room 2031, State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Via FAX: (916) 445-4688
Dear Senator Hancock:
On behalf of [NAME OF ORGANIZATION], I am writing in strong support for SB 124 (Leno), a bill that would limit the harmful practice of solitary confinement against youth in the juvenile justice system. [PROVIDE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR ORGANIZATION].
SB 124 seeks to remedy current deficiencies in law regarding the use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities and to curb its overuse and abuse. This bill is in keeping with efforts in several other states to ban or limit the use of solitary confinement—a practice widely defined throughout the U.S. and internationally as torture due to the severe impacts on the mental and physical health of those who are confined.
Specifically, SB 124, would bring these urgently needed reforms:
· Define solitary confinement as the placement of a person in a locked room or cell alone with minimal or no contact with persons other than guards, correctional staff, and attorneys. It does not include confinement for brief periods of confinement necessary for required institutional operations.
· Provide that solitary confinement shall only be used when a young person poses an immediate and substantial risk of harm to others or the security of the facility, and when all other less restrictive options have been attempted and exhausted.
· Provide that a youth shall only be held in solitary confinement for the minimum time necessary to address the safety risk, not to exceed four hours.
· Empower existing county juvenile justice commissions to report on the use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities.
[PLEASE DESCRIBE WHY YOU SUPPORT THE BILL AND/OR WHY THIS BILL IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR ORGANIZATION. YOU CAN USE ANY OR ALL OF THE PARAGRAPHS BELOW TO SUPPORT YOUR POSITION. ]
Efforts have been made across the country to curb the use of solitary confinement for adults and several states have prohibited the use of solitary confinement of youth for disciplinary reasons. States including Connecticut and Oklahoma ban the use of juvenile solitary confinement for punitive reasons.
In February 2014, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) called for “all federal and state facilities to end the use of solitary confinement for juveniles, pregnant women, and individuals with serious and persistent mental illness, except in those exceptional circumstances where public safety requires it.”
Most recently, New York City has banned the use of solitary confinement on people under the age of 21. Contra Costa County is currently under a federal lawsuit for keeping youth in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and depriving them of education.
In addition to worsening recidivism rates, solitary confinement damages mental health and increases risk for suicide. Nationally, over half of the youth who committed suicide while in a correctional facility were in solitary confinement at the time and 62% had a history of being placed in solitary confinement. Further, when youth are kept in isolation, they do not have access to programming and education services.
Solitary confinement is contrary to the stated rehabilitative and treatment goals of the juvenile justice system, and contrary to our values as a society. SB 124 offers California an historic opportunity to limit this dangerous and inhumane practice. For these reasons, we support SB 124 and strongly urge your support as well.
Sincerely,
[NAME, TITLE]
[ORGANIZATION]
