On January 23, 2017, ACLU filed a class action suit against Wisconsin officials alleging severe human and children’s rights abuses. The complaint’s introduction states:
The State of Wisconsin operates the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls, which incarcerate approximately 150-200 youth who are as young as 14 years old, in remote northern Wisconsin. The State routinely subjects these youth to unlawful solitary confinement, mechanical restraints and pepper spraying. Prior to state and federal raids on the facility at the end of 2015, staff also regularly physically abused youth in the facility. Currently, Wisconsin’s juvenile corrections officials lock up approximately 15 to 20% percent or more of the facilities’ young residents in solitary confinement cells for 22 or 23 hours per day. Many of these children are forced to spend their only free hour of time per day outside of a solitary confinement cell in handcuffs and chained to a table. Officers also repeatedly and excessively use Bear Mace and other pepper sprays against the youth, causing them excruciating pain and impairing their breathing. These practices constitute serious violations of the children’s constitutional rights, including their rights to substantive due process, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Related Readings:
- J.J. et al. v. Litscher et al., No. 3:17-cv-00047 (W. D. Wis. Jan 23, 2017) (Complaint).
- ACLU, CAGED IN: Solitary Confinement’s Devastating Harm on Prisoners with Physical Disabilities (Jan. 2017).
- Erica Danielsen, Prof. Mushlin Testifies in Favor of Oversight in NY State Prisons, Pace Criminal Justice Blog (Dec. 8, 2015).
- Jason M. Breslow, What Does Solitary Confinement Do to Your Mind?, PBS Frontline, (Apr. 22, 2014).
- ACLU, Change is Possible: A Case Study of Solitary Confinement Reform in Maine (March 2013).
- ACLU, Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States (2012).
- Solitary Watch Blog