Re: March 26 editorial.
The Denver Post editorial board, while recognizing that solitary confinement is extremely damaging to children, concluded that proposed legislation limiting its use is “too proscriptive.” Unfortunately, the board ignored the Department of Youth Corrections’ disturbing history of using solitary confinement to punish children in violation of state law. Given this history, House Bill 1328, which makes law portions of DYC’s current seclusion policy and contains reporting and oversight components, is a necessary and appropriate measure.
In 2014, after the ACLU of Colorado and other advocacy groups discovered that DYC routinely and illegally held children in long-term solitary confinement as punishment, the division agreed to stop the practice and adopt new policies to limit seclusion of children. The editorial board argues that DYC should now be left alone to follow these policies because it was only in 2014 that DYC “began recognizing the issue.” That contention is based on a fundamental factual inaccuracy.
It was in 1999, not 2014, that DYC openly recognized the harm in placing children in long-term solitary confinement. That year, Colorado passed a law limiting solitary confinement of children to emergency situations and never for punishment. The then-director of DYC strongly supported the law. Yet, when leadership changed, DYC adopted new illegal policies and practices endorsing the placement of children in long-term solitary confinement as punishment when there was no emergency.
The only reason DYC stopped illegally isolating children is because outside organizations brought the practice to light. Had the 1999 law included the type of transparency and oversight measures of HB 1328, DYC’s illegal practices would have been discovered and stopped sooner.
Current DYC leadership may be well-intentioned, but if history is any guide, current leadership may well be gone within a few years and current policies will change. In the last two years, DYC has had three directors and made 26 policy changes.
Policies come and policies go; directors come and directors go. If Colorado wants to permanently protect children from the significant harms of prolonged solitary confinement, it must codify the strong protections and oversight measures of HB 1328.
Rebecca T. Wallace is staff attorney and policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
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