{"id":24988,"date":"2019-02-15T09:35:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T15:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=24988"},"modified":"2019-02-15T09:35:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T15:35:43","slug":"limitations-on-juvenile-confinement-proposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=24988","title":{"rendered":"Limitations on juvenile confinement proposed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the Judiciary Committee heard testimony Feb. 14 on a bill that would restrict the use of room confinement for juveniles.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB230, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, would prohibit correctional facilities from placing juveniles in room confinement as a result of disciplinary sanctions, staff shortages or retaliation by staff members.<\/p>\n

The average length of a restrictive confinement at both of the state\u2019s Youth Rehabilitative and Treatment Centers has decreased, she said, but the number of incidents at both facilities has increased.<\/p>\n

\u201cFar too often kids are being placed in restrictive confinement because facility administrators lose patience or because it may be more convenient,\u201d she said. \u201c[The bill] helps ensure we\u2019re keeping children and staff safe in our facilities while helping children rehabilitate and become thriving members of our society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill specifies that room confinement could be used only after all other less-restrictive alternatives have been exhausted and the juvenile poses a serious and immediate security threat to themselves or others. The length of confinement would be restricted to the minimum amount of time needed to resolve any such threat while not harming the mental or physical health of the juvenile.<\/p>\n

Confined individuals would continue to have regular access to medical and mental health treatment, meals, contact with parents and legal guardians, legal assistance and educational programming.<\/p>\n

Notice of an offender\u2019s placement in room confinement to their parents or guardians and attorney would be required within one business day.<\/p>\n

Dylan Murphy of Omaha spoke in support of the bill. As a young person, Murphy said he was repeatedly placed in solitary room confinement and continues to suffer from emotional issues as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that adolescents have not had the life experience to gain the emotional resources and skills to manage the distress caused by solitary confinement,\u201d he said. \u201cIt took almost 20 years for me to stop subconsciously waiting every moment of every day for someone to lock me in a room again for something they didn\u2019t like about me or something that I\u2019d done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also supporting the bill was Juliet Summers, representing Voices for Children in Nebraska. She said LB230 would ensure that the state\u2019s youth do not experience the harmful effects of long-term restrictive confinement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll youth in the juvenile justice system should receive rehabilitative services for a second chance to succeed,\u201d Summers said. \u201c[Outdated] and inhumane practices like the use of extended solitary confinement … mars children\u2019s opportunity for rehabilitation and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Boys Town teacher Tom Miller also spoke in favor of the bill. Solitary confinement has devastating long-term impacts on an adolescent\u2019s well-being, he said, especially considering many already have experienced trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany are traumatized and they need to know that they\u2019re unconditionally loved,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIt is important juveniles have authentic relationships and that they can talk to someone nonjudgmental when they\u2019re having a hard time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on LB230.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Judiciary Committee heard testimony Feb. 14 on a bill that would restrict the use of room confinement for juveniles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-24988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judiciary","tag-sen-patty-pansing-brooks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/LB230PansingBrooks2-14-19a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24989,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24988\/revisions\/24989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}