BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1143 Hearing Date: April 19, 2016
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|Author: |Leno |
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|Version: |March 29, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|AA |
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Subject: Juveniles: Room Confinement
HISTORY
Source: Chief Probation Officers of California
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Prior Legislation:SB 124 (Leno) - 2015 held in Assembly
Appropriations
SB 970 (Yee) (2014) - died in the Senate
SB 61 (Yee) (2013) - died in the Assembly
SB 1363 (Yee) (2012) - failed passage, Senate
Public Safety
Support: American Civil Liberties Union of California; Alliance
for Boys and Men of Color; American Friends Service
Committee; California Attorneys for Criminal Justice;
California Catholic Conference; California Prison
Focus; Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice;
Children Now; Children's Defense Fund - California;
Children's Law and Policy; Community Works;
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice;
Courage Campaign; Equality California; First
Congregational Church of Palo Alto; GSA Network of
California; Immigrant Legal Resource Center; Jewish
Community High School; Justice Not Jails; Law
Foundation of Silicon Valley; Legal Services for
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Prisoners with Children; National Center for Youth
Law; National Juvenile Justice Network; National
Religious Campaign Against Torture; Pacific Juvenile
Defender Center; Resource Development Associates;
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; Santa
Cruz-Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary
Confinement ; Women's Foundation of California; W.
Haywood Burns Institute; Youth Law Center; several
individuals
Opposition:None known
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to establish statutory guidelines
and limits for confining a minor or ward in a juvenile facility
in a locked sleeping room or cell with minimal or no contact
with people other than staff and attorneys, as specified.
Existing law provides generally that the purpose of the juvenile
court law "is to provide for the protection and safety of the
public and each minor under the jurisdiction of the juvenile
court and to preserve and strengthen the minor's family ties
whenever possible, removing the minor from the custody of his or
her parents only when necessary for his or her welfare or for
the safety and protection of the public. If removal of a minor
is determined by the juvenile court to be necessary,
reunification of the minor with his or her family shall be a
primary objective. If the minor is removed from his or her own
family, it is the purpose of this chapter to secure for the
minor custody, care, and discipline as nearly as possible
equivalent to that which should have been given by his or her
parents . . . ` . . . Minors under the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court who are in need of protective services shall
receive care, treatment, and guidance consistent with their best
interest and the best interest of the public. Minors under the
jurisdiction of the juvenile court as a consequence of
delinquent conduct shall, in conformity with the interests of
public safety and protection, receive care, treatment, and
guidance that is consistent with their best interest, that holds
them accountable for their behavior, and that is appropriate for
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their circumstances . . . (Welfare and Institutions Code ("WIC")
§ 202.)
Existing law provides that minors under the age of 18 years may
be adjudged to be a ward of the court for violating "any law of
this state or of the United States or any ordinance of any city
or county of this state defining crime," as specified. (WIC §
602.)
Existing law generally provides that when a minor is adjudged a
ward of the court on the ground that he or she is delinquent,
the court may make any and all reasonable orders for the care,
supervision, custody, conduct, maintenance, and support of the
minor, including medical treatment, subject to further order of
the court, as specified. (WIC § 727(a).)
Existing law authorizes the court to place a ward of the court
in a juvenile hall, ranch, camp, forestry camp, secure juvenile
home, or the Division of Juvenile Facilities, as specified.
(WIC§ 726.)
Confinement of Detained Minors
Existing law requires the Board of State and Community
Corrections ("BSCC") to "adopt minimum standards for the
operation and maintenance of juvenile halls for the confinement
of minors." (WIC § 210.)
Existing law requires the BSCC to "adopt and prescribe the
minimum standards of construction, operation, programs of
education and training, and qualifications of personnel for
juvenile ranches, camps, or forestry camps . . ." (WIC § 885.)
This Bill: Proposed Statute Establishing Conditions for "Room
Confinement" for Minors in Juvenile Facilities
This bill would enact a new statute regulating the conditions
for "room confinement" for minors in juvenile facilities, with
the following requirements and definitions:
Delayed Operational Date
This bill provides that its provisions shall become operative on
January 1, 2018.
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Definitions and Application
This bill would apply the following definitions to its
provisions:
"Juvenile facility" includes any of the following:
1) A juvenile hall, as specified.
2) A juvenile camp or ranch, as specified.
3) A facility of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities.
4) A regional youth educational facility, as specified.
5) A youth correctional center, as specified.
6) A juvenile regional facility as specified.
7) Any other local or state facility used for the
confinement of minors or wards.
"Minor" means a person who is any of the following:
1) A person under 18 years of age.
2) A person under the maximum age of juvenile court
jurisdiction who is confined in a juvenile facility.
3) A person under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Facilities.
"'Room confinement' means the placement of a minor or
ward in a locked sleeping room or cell with minimal or no
contact with persons other than correctional facility staff
and attorneys. Room confinement does not include
confinement of a minor or ward in a single-person room or
cell for brief periods of locked room confinement necessary
for required institutional operations."
"Ward" means a person who has been declared a ward of
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the court pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 602.
Guidelines, Limits and Requirements for Placing and Retaining a
Minor/Ward in "Room Confinement"
This bill would require that the placement of a minor or ward in
room confinement be accomplished in accordance with the
following guidelines:
1) Room confinement shall not be used before all other
less-restrictive options have been attempted and exhausted.
2) Room confinement shall not be used for the purposes of
punishment, coercion, convenience, or retaliation by staff.
3) Room confinement shall not be used to the extent that it
compromises the mental and physical health of the minor or
ward.
This bill would allow a minor to be held up to four hours in
room confinement.
This bill would require that after the minor or ward has been
held in room confinement for a period of four hours, staff shall
do one or more of the following:
1) Return the minor or ward to general population.
2) Consult with mental health or medical staff.
3) Develop an individualized plan that includes the goals
and objectives to be met in order to reintegrate the minor
or ward to general population.
This bill would require that if room confinement must be
extended beyond four hours, staff shall do the following:
1) Document the reason for room confinement and the basis
for the extension, the date and time the minor or ward was
first placed in room confinement, and when he or she is
eventually released from room confinement.
2) Develop an individualized plan that includes the goals
and objectives to be met in order to reintegrate the minor
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or ward to general population.
3) Obtain written authorization by the facility
superintendent or the Director of Juvenile Justice or his
or her designee every four hours thereafter.
Limitations
This bill states that these provisions are "not intended to
limit the use of single-person rooms or cells for the housing of
minors or wards in juvenile facilities and does not apply to
normal sleeping hours."
This bill states that its provisions do "not apply to minors or
wards in court holding facilities or adult facilities."
This bill states that nothing in its provisions "shall be
construed to conflict with any law providing greater or
additional protections to minors or wards."
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the past several years this Committee has scrutinized
legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential
impact on prison overcrowding. Mindful of the United States
Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the
state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care
to its inmate population and the related issue of prison
overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison
overcrowding.
On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to
reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of
design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
In December of 2015 the administration reported that as "of
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December 9, 2015, 112,510 inmates were housed in the State's 34
adult institutions, which amounts to 136.0% of design bed
capacity, and 5,264 inmates were housed in out-of-state
facilities. The current population is 1,212 inmates below the
final court-ordered population benchmark of 137.5% of design bed
capacity, and has been under that benchmark since February
2015." (Defendants' December 2015 Status Report in Response to
February 10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge
Court, Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).) One
year ago, 115,826 inmates were housed in the State's 34 adult
institutions, which amounted to 140.0% of design bed capacity,
and 8,864 inmates were housed in out-of-state facilities.
(Defendants' December 2014 Status Report in Response to February
10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman
v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).)
While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison
population, the state must stabilize these advances and
demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place
the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently
demanded" by the court. (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and
Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December
31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,
Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14). The Committee's
consideration of bills that may impact the prison population
therefore will be informed by the following questions:
Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has contributed
to reducing the prison population;
Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy;
Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or
legislative drafting error; and
Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy.
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COMMENTS
1.Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
This bill seeks to limit the use of room confinement
in California's juvenile facilities by providing a
standard definition and specific guidelines around its
use. The bill requires juvenile facilities to attempt
and exhaust less restrictive options before using room
confinement. Room confinement cannot be used to the
extent it compromises the mental or physical health of
the youth and it cannot be used for the purposes of
punishment, retaliation, coercion or convenience by
staff. Room confinement lasting beyond four hours
requires a sign off by the facility superintendent and
every four hours thereafter, documentation, and an
individualized plan to reintegrate the youth back into
general population.
Long-term isolation has not been shown to have any
rehabilitative or treatment value, and the United
Nations has called upon all member countries to ban
its use completely on minors. It is a practice that
endangers mental health and increases risk of suicide,
and is often used as a method to control a
correctional environment, and not for any
rehabilitative purpose. It does not properly address
disciplinary issues and more often, it increases these
behaviors in youth, especially those with mental
health conditions. In 1999, the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) released a
study of juvenile facilities across the country which
found that 50% of youth who committed suicide were in
isolation at the time of their suicide. Further, 62%
of the suicide victims had a history of isolation. In
a report released by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2012, prisoners who
had spent time in isolation in the Security Housing
Units had a higher rate of recidivism than those who
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had not. This bill recognizes the importance of
keeping youth in the classroom, in counseling, in
programs, and other pro-social activities-all of which
will lead to reductions in recidivism.
Title 15 regulations do not provide specific
guidelines around the use of room confinement,
oftentimes used interchangeably with terms like
"separation." Title 15 charges facility
administrators to develop written policies and
procedures regarding the use of separation, but does
not provide additional guidance or limitations except
that "separated youth shall not be denied normal
privileges at the facility, except when necessary to
accomplish the objectives of separation." Current
regulations and statutes do not prevent isolation that
can last 21 hours or more each day.
The use of long-term isolation is clearly documented
in both state and local juvenile facilities. Despite
a longstanding consent decree in effect since 2004, an
internal CDCR audit found continuing abuses in the
Division of Juvenile Facilities as late as 2011,
including youth locked up in their cells for more than
23 hours a day. Additionally, in a recent 2014
report released by Barry Krisberg of the Warren
Institute at UC Berkeley, youth in the most
restrictive current program at DJJ known as the
"Behavior Treatment Program," were required to receive
only 3 hours outside of their cell, and were typically
there for approximately 60 days. Despite some
improvements in state conditions since the 2011 audit,
the consent decree has since been lifted earlier this
year, and it is critical that statutory definitions
and parameters on the use of room confinement that is
consistent for all juvenile facilities be established
going forward. At the local level, there are even
fewer guidelines and limitations. A federal
class-action lawsuit filed against Contra Costa's
juvenile hall for youth with disabilities who were
placed in long term isolation and denied education as
a punishment was recently settled by the county, and
the conditions of the settlement are nearly identical
to SB 1143, clearly demonstrating that the parameters
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established in the bill can be implemented at the
county level. There simply must be a statewide
standard defining room confinement, and limiting its
duration so that youth are in the classroom and other
rehabilitative programming. This bill will lead to
better rehabilitative outcomes for youth, a safer
correctional environment for staff and youth, and the
avoidance of costly lawsuits.
2.What This Bill Would Do
As explained in detail above, this bill would establish
statutory guidelines and limits for confining a minor or
ward in a juvenile facility in a locked sleeping room or
cell with minimal or no contact with people other than
staff and attorneys. The bill specifies that this kind of
confinement shall be used only as a last resort, and not be
used for punishment, coercion, convenience or retaliation
by staff, or if it compromises the mental and physical
health of the minor or ward. The bill requires specified
measures where a minor or ward has been confined for four
hours, and where continuing room confinement beyond four
hours is necessary.
The bill's provisions would not become operational until
January 1, 2018.
3.Background
Confining minors in detention facilities to locked rooms or
cells is an issue this Committee has considered on several
occasions in the past, including on measures carried by the
author of this bill. Many commentators have written about the
adverse effects of "solitary confinement" on both minors and
adults in custodial facilities. For example, last year a law
review article stated in part:
Although there is limited research on the effects of
isolation on incarcerated youth, the existing studies
have found that it is correlated with high rates of
suicide as well as with post-traumatic stress disorder
("PTSD"), depression, and future criminal activity. .
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. . Of course, its harmful impact on adult prisoners
has been well established in the scholarly literature.
. . .
. . . When considering the impact of isolation on
incarcerated youth, it is critical to keep in mind
that this cohort is already psychologically
compromised when compared to the general teenage
population. Rates of mental health disorders are
higher among these adolescents, with studies finding
that up to seventy percent of incarcerated adolescents
satisfy the criteria for one mental health disorder
and many of them suffer from multiple disorders. In
turn, certain groups of people with mental illness,
including males and those of lower socioeconomic
status, are at increased risk of abusing drugs such as
marijuana, opiates, cocaine and other stimulants, and
alcohol. In addition, both drug abuse and mental
illness often begin "in adolescence or even childhood,
periods when the brain is undergoing dramatic
developmental changes." In fact, early exposure to
abused substances "can change the brain in ways that
increase the risk of mental illness, just as early
symptoms of mental illness can increase one's
vulnerability to drug abuse." As a result, the
psychological harm caused by the solitary confinement
of young people in juvenile and criminal justice
settings can exacerbate preexisting mental illness and
increase the likelihood of subsequent drug abuse. . .
.
. . . In the case of child prisoners, one of the few
existing studies is a 2012 report by Human Rights
Watch based on interviews and correspondence with 127
individuals detained in U.S. jails or prisons while
under the age of eighteen; it concluded that solitary
confinement "can cause serious physical harm to
youth." . . .
. . . Young people in solitary confinement experience
a wide range of social and developmental harms as a
result of being isolated in penal settings. As with
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increased rates of mental illness, young people often
enter the juvenile justice system with a prior history
of trauma and victimization, with research showing
that up to forty-two percent of juvenile
justice-involved youth also report involvement with
child protective services as victims of abuse and
neglect. In addition, disproportionate numbers of
youth in juvenile detention and correctional
facilities have special needs, with one recent federal
study showing thirty percent have learning
disabilities and forty-five percent have attention
deficit problems. Thus, for these children with
preexisting disabilities or histories of trauma, the
developmental harm of solitary confinement can be
significantly exacerbated, as isolation itself can be
re-traumatizing.
Further, children in isolation are denied contact with
their families as well as access to education,
vocational training, and other forms of
rehabilitation, including drug and alcohol treatment.
Recent empirical data on incarcerated youth have
demonstrated that visits from family members correlate
with improved behavior and school performance.
Providing adolescents with opportunities for skill
acquisition (gained through educational, vocational,
or other training) is necessary for the development of
"mastery," just as nurturing by caring adults and
opportunities for self-expression are crucial for the
development of "identity" (developing a stable
definition of themselves and their outlook on life -
both of which are critical stages of adolescent
psychosocial development). For children in
isolation, the denial of these basic needs - access to
family, education, and treatment - decreases the
likelihood that they will be able to successfully
reintegrate into the community upon their release from
detention.<1>
4. Current Regulations
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<1> Birckhead, Children In Isolation: The Solitary Confinement
Of Youth (Spring 2015) 50 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1 (citations
omitted).
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As noted above, current statute requires the BSCC to promulgate
regulations establishing minimum standards in juvenile halls.
Current regulations pertaining to the segregation of confined
minors provide:
The facility administrator shall develop written
policies and procedures concerning the need to
segregate minors. Minors who are segregated shall not
be denied normal privileges available at the facility,
except when necessary to accomplish the objectives of
segregation. Written procedures shall be developed
which provide a review of all minors to determine
whether it is appropriate for them to remain in
segregation and for direct visual observation. When
segregation is for the purpose of discipline, Title
15, Section 1390 shall apply.<2>
Current regulations further provide:
The facility administrator shall develop written
policies and procedures for the discipline of minors
that shall promote acceptable behavior. Discipline
shall be imposed at the least restrictive level which
promotes the desired behavior. Discipline shall not
include corporal punishment, group punishment,
physical or psychological degradation or deprivation
of the following:
(a) bed and bedding;
(b) daily shower, access to drinking fountain, toilet
and personal hygiene items,
and clean clothing;
(c) full nutrition;
(d) contact with parent or attorney;
(e) exercise;
(f) medical services and counseling;
(g) religious services;
(h) clean and sanitary living conditions;
(i) the right to send and receive mail; and,
(j) education.
The facility administrator shall establish rules of
conduct and disciplinary penalties to guide the
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<2> 15 CCR § 1354.
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conduct of minors. Such rules and penalties shall
include both major violations and minor violations, be
stated simply and affirmatively, and be made available
to all minors. Provision shall be made to provide the
information to minors who are impaired, illiterate or
do not speak English.<3>
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<3> 15 CCR 1390.