NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A juvenile detention center in Shelby County has reduced the use of solitary confinement among children in its care, according to a new report from the Center for Children's Law and Policy and other organizations.

In 2012, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice found that youths detained at the Shelby County facility were discriminated against, held in unsafe conditions and subjected to solitary confinement.

Mark Soler, executive director of the Center for Children's Law and Policy, points out that confining children to their rooms without anything to do for long periods of time is an abusive practice.

"When the U.S. Department of Justice did its investigation into the Shelby County juvenile court, they found a number of serious constitutional concerns,” Soler points out. “What was happening in Shelby County is that young people were being disciplined for getting into an argument, and they were being put into their rooms for many hours at a time – long past the time when they had calmed down."

As of 2018, records show a sharp reduction in the use of room confinement, and detention center staff must now obtain permission before putting a child in confinement, according to the report.

Soler says Shelby County undertook a variety of reforms, including transferring operation of the juvenile detention center to the Shelby County sheriff, adding new programming and group activities for youths, hiring a full-time counselor, and extending visitation and phone call times.

Widespread research shows that solitary or room confinement can cause serious physiological harm to both adults and youths.

Soler says that youth, whose brains are still developing, are especially vulnerable. He also points out that flaws in the juvenile justice system mostly affect black children.

"Most of the arrests that are made of young people for allegedly committing crimes are made in a limited number of neighborhoods, and those are neighborhoods that are highly populated by African-Americans,” he states. “So, the majority of young people at the detention facility, the majority of young people in the juvenile justice system in Shelby County are African-American."

Last year, state legislators passed HB 2271, also known as the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2018, which, among other reforms, aims to limit the use of isolation as a tool of punishment for youths in the system.


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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A new report ranks Maryland as one of the worst states in providing support for young victims of sex trafficking.

While Maryland has made some progress in this area, the Shared Hope International report card puts the state near the bottom, at 44th, with a failing grade.

It said Maryland must do better in identifying victims, and in its response to them.

Melanie Shapiro, public policy director for the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, part of the state's anti-trafficking task force, said it is still among the few states treating trafficked children as criminals, placing them in juvenile detention instead of providing much-needed services.

"The criminal and juvenile justice system can be re-traumatizing for child victims of sex trafficking," Shapiro explained. "So, we need to have a trauma-informed and victim-centered approach."

Her group is working on legislation for the upcoming General Assembly session to provide "safe harbor" laws, to keep trafficked minors from being arrested and charged as prostitutes or for related offenses.

Shapiro pointed out Maryland is one of only a handful of states that have not adopted safe harbor policies to protect sexually exploited children. She thinks misperceptions on TV or in movies about victims often distort the reality of serious abuse by traffickers, who prey on vulnerable kids and teens.

"Sex traffickers lure them in as pretending to be somebody that loves them and cares for them," Shapiro noted. "And then they do terrible things to them, including physically abusing them, sexually abusing them. They make a child perform sex acts for money. That is one of the most awful things that they can do."

Gov. Larry Hogan signed the Child Sex Trafficking Screening and Services Act in 2019, creating a program to help law enforcement work with social-services agencies, and bring support to suspected child victims.

But Shapiro argued a safe-harbor law is the only way to keep them from incarceration.

MADISON, Wis. - The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict continues to evoke a range of emotions from the public. A University of Wisconsin expert says the outcome could have lasting effects on marginalized residents who already feel pushed away by social institutions.

Rittenhouse, a white teen, was acquitted of murder charges for shooting several protesters during last year's police brutality demonstrations in Kenosha.

Alvin Thomas, an assistant professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it only adds to the list of previous high-profile cases tied to debates over racial injustice.

For anyone who's experienced racial bias, Thomas said it could further cement negative reactions.

"Every time a new incident comes up," said Thomas, "what it does is that it can produce some of these Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms like re-experiencing, hypervigilance, avoidance, flashbacks and memories, intense sadness, and fear and anger."

Thomas noted a body of research links discrimination to worsening mental and physical health. He said even though some people who are Black feel resigned to an unfair criminal justice system, each event still has a tremendous personal impact on them.

Supporters of Rittenhouse argue the case boiled down to self-defense, adding that those who died were white.

But Thomas said it's important to remember the protesters who were shot were there in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. And he explained a perceived injustice against anyone, no matter their race, can add to the pain already felt by so many.

"I think it's very similar to what we saw during the Civil Rights movement," said Thomas, "where you had people of different colors, ethnicities who were engaged in that fight. And they bled together."

As for long-term effects, Thomas said there's danger that people experiencing negative reactions could feel less compelled to take part in certain facets of mainstream society.

"Like elections and voting," said Thomas, "engaging in different things that make society move."

While there are many documented cases of police violence toward Black males, Thomas noted Black girls and women can be victims too. He said the pain from these events can be equally shared.

"I think Black men could be hit with the understanding that 'this victim looks like me,'" said Thomas. "But I think Black women also are hit just as hard, because when they look, they see a brother, they see a father, they see a son."

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A new report finds stark disparities in the impacts of cash bail in Michigan, which disproportionately keeps low-income residents and Michiganders of color in jail.

The study, from the Michigan League for Public Policy, noted it is common practice in Michigan to require people who've been arrested but are awaiting trial to put up cash in exchange for their temporary release.

Peter Ruark, senior policy analyst for the League and the report's author, said when people are unable to pay their bail, it can have major consequences.

"That creates hardship for families," Ruark outlined. "It can cause people to lose their jobs. It can complicate relations with relatives."

Nationally, the report said the median income for people unable to post bail is about $15,000 a year. And median bond amounts are roughly $10,000 higher for Black defendants than for their white counterparts.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a package of bills to reform the cash-bail system, and Ruark pointed out most of the opposition comes from the cash-bail industry itself.

Eli Savit, Washtenaw County prosecutor, took office in January and stopped seeking cash bail. He said judges and magistrates still can impose it, but his office aims to impose non-monetary conditions for releasing people pretrial instead.

He argued it should not matter what your bank account looks like, but what you have been arrested for, and if you pose a threat to the community.

"Getting rid of cash bail does not mean that we're opening up the jailhouse doors and letting everybody free," Savit explained. "It means that the decision about whether you need to stay in jail before trial, before you've been convicted, is based on what you're accused of doing and the danger that you pose, not based on how much money you have."

The report also noted extended jail stays due to inability to post bail can severely impact people's mental health. National data during the 2010s showed more than 70% of people who died by suicide in jail were not convicted with a crime at the time of their death.