Baltimore held teenagers in solitary confinement for up to four months while awaiting trial

Baltimore held teenagers in solitary confinement for up to four months while awaiting trial
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A Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation found that the Baltimore City Detention Center was putting teenagers awaiting trial as adults into solitary confinement for months on end. While the average time in isolated confinement was 13 days, at least one teen spent as much as 143 days — more than four months — alone.

"This is grossly excessive and violates basic principles of Due Process," the DOJ report concluded. "It is even more troubling for the 24 percent of juveniles in seclusion who are ultimately found not guilty under the disciplinary process."

Solitary confinement is particularly dangerous for adolescents, whose brains are still developing.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.