January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and combating the problem is especially important in Nevada, which is home to the largest commercial sex trade per capita in the country.

More than 5,000 people, mostly women and girls, are sold for sex in Nevada each month, according to a 2019 study from Creighton University.

Melissa Holland, executive director and a cofounder at Awaken, a Reno-based nonprofit that helps survivors of sex trafficking get their lives back, said the traffickers target local teenagers.

"Over the last four years," she said, "Awaken has seen victims come out of every single high school in Reno-Sparks and most of the middle schools."

All sex trafficking is illegal, online or otherwise, in Clark and Washoe counties, which include Las Vegas and Reno. But solicitation of an adult for sex is only a misdemeanor, punishable by a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail. Brothels are legal in certain parts of 10 other Nevada counties.

Holland said she'd like to see the sex trade banned in every county - or at least, to have the penalty raised to what's known as a gross misdemeanor.

"We have a sex tourism community here, which unfortunately means this is where traffickers come to groom girls and to traffic them," she said. "Traffickers want to come to Nevada because the laws have done half the work for them, in terms of desensitizing people to prostitution."

Awaken and other groups like it offer transitional housing, a drop-in center and counseling, and make presentations at local schools. The Nevada Attorney General's website also has links to multiple agencies and programs designed to help victims.

Solitary confinement has been widely condemned by human-rights activists, and a new bill making its way through the Virginia General Assembly would restrict its use in the state's prisons.

The bill would limit the use of solitary confinement to 15 days, and set requirements before someone is placed in isolation.

Sen. Joseph Morissey, D-Richmond, the bill's chief patron, told the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee this month ending the practice has fiscal benefits, noting other states have eliminated solitary confinement and closed specialty facilities.

"Colorado closed a segregation facility built for 316 prisoners," Morissey reported. "After doing that, they saved $13.6 million in 2013 and 2014, without any negative impact."

The bill defines solitary confinement as isolating a person for 20 or more hours per day. The Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) said it has ended "restrictive housing," another term for solitary confinement, in favor of what's known as "restorative housing," which offers people in prison a minimum of four hours out of their cell each day.

Kim Bobo, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, alleges restorative housing is yet another term for solitary confinement. Bobo's organization held a statewide series of prayer vigils this past Sunday in support of the bill.

"Whatever you call it, isolating people for long periods of time is torture," Bobo contended. "The DOC claims it has implemented new approaches for reducing the use of solitary confinement. Perhaps, but frankly, pastors and family members tell us different."

The bill passed the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee, and has been referred to the chamber's Finance Committee for further deliberation. A similar bill passed the Senate last year, but failed to make it to the House for a vote. If passed by the full General Assembly, it would take effect July 1.

Critics of Gov. Pete Ricketts' call for the Nebraska Legislature to fund a new prison argue the money would be better invested in programs with proven track records for reducing crime and preventing people from entering the criminal-justice system.

Fran Kaye, a retired professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a 25-year prison volunteer, said mental-health programs, addiction treatment and job-training programs can reduce crime and make communities safer.

"Prisons are really kind of an awful idea, when you come to think about it," Kaye remarked. "I mean, you don't want to be in a position where you're punishing people after they've done something wrong. You don't want them to do wrong in the first place."

Supporters say the proposed 1,500-bed prison, listed as a $240 million line item in an appropriations bill, will create jobs and is necessary to address the state's overcrowded corrections population.

Kaye cites research showing Nebraska can end overcrowding by limiting the use of stacked sentencing and getting more people back into communities through diversion programs and parole.

She added Nebraska is not a wealthy state, and only developers will benefit if lawmakers approve a project with a quarter-billion-dollar price tag.

"You get as much money for building a preschool as you do for building a prison," Kaye pointed out. "Why don't we build more treatment centers? You get as much money for building a treatment center as you do for a prison. Why don't we build more job-training centers?"

Pointing to the state's high recidivism rate, Kaye said Nebraska has done a poor job helping people who have served time heal and re-enter society as contributing community members. She believes building another facility will not make those communities safer, in part because prisons create an environment known to lead to violent behavior.

"Fear, shame, isolation, exposure to violence, powerlessness," Kaye outlined. "What do prisons create? Why in the world would we spend all that money on an institution that is best at creating violence, and is lousy at healing?"

Survivors of human trafficking in Indiana are required to provide testimony in person during trials, but a new bill would allow young survivors to submit pre-recorded video statements. The proposal would apply to survivors who were 14 or younger at the time of their assault, as long as they're still a minor during the trial.

Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Evansville, chair of the Indiana House Courts and Criminal Code Committee, said she wrote the bill after talking with a parent in her district.

"His daughter was victimized when she was 14 and then was forced to testify in court when she was 15," McNamara recounted. "So hopefully this would be an opportunity for kids not to have to relive this."

Per the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there were 140 reported cases of trafficking in Indiana in 2020, up from 98 in 2017. McNamara said while her bill is aimed at survivors of human trafficking, it also would cover young survivors of any violent crime.

McNamara's bill includes other provisions which she pointed out will streamline the prosecution of traffickers and increase penalties for those who pay for sexual acts from minors. She added many of those measures were designed to target the organizations behind the crime.

"It's not just one individual," McNamara explained. "It's often a very complex web of groups of people, multi-state groups, that serve as human-trafficking rings."

The proposal also will require local agencies to report human trafficking investigations to the Indiana Attorney General's office within thirty days. It will be before the Courts and Criminal Code Committee for consideration Wednesday.

Human trafficking can be reported to the National Human Trafficking hotline via the organization's website or by phone: 1-888-373-7888.