Thousands of incarcerated teenagers across the U.S. are held in solitary confinement every day, often without being convicted of a crime. Whether they are in jails, prisons or juvenile halls, the punishment is about the same: 23 hours a day in a small cell with minimal human contact.
This week, New York state prisons became the first in the nation to ban solitary confinement as a punishment for prisoners younger than 18. But the rule does not apply to city and county jails, like New York City's Rikers Island, which houses hundreds of minors as young as 16. Although most of them have not been convicted, they still can be punished as adults for breaking jail rules. That often means weeks or months in solitary confinement.
The Center for Investigative Reporting examines the use of solitary confinement for minors at Rikers Island. It's part of a larger investigation – coming March 1 with the launch of "Reveal," CIR and PRX's public radio program – into the secretive, mostly unregulated practice of isolating young inmates.
Watch it now on PBS NewsHour.
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CIR examines use of solitary confinement for minors
by Daffodil J. Altan and Trey Bundy, Reveal February 21, 2014
Daffodil J. Altan is a video producer for Reveal. As a reporter and producer, she has worked in print, radio and film, and her work has appeared on the PBS NewsHour, Univision, Telemundo, FRONTLINE and in the Los Angeles Times, Latina Magazine and Mother Jones, among others. Altan has received awards for her work from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Los Angeles Press Club and the Imagen Foundation. She has been a Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellow and a John Jay/Langeloth Health Journalism Fellow, and she has been awarded a Latino Public Broadcasting grant. She received a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. Altan is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.
Trey Bundy is a former reporter for Reveal, covering youth. After beginning his career at the San Francisco Chronicle, he joined The Bay Citizen, where he covered child welfare, juvenile justice, education and crime. His work also has appeared in The New York Times, SF Weekly, The Huffington Post, the PBS NewsHour, Planet magazine and other news outlets. He has won three awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2009, he won the national Hearst Journalism Award for article of the year. Bundy has a bachelor's degree in journalism from San Francisco State University. He is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.
