[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 126 (Wednesday, August 5, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6387-S6388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. Paul, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 1965. A bill to place restrictions on the use of solitary 
confinement for juveniles in Federal custody; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, today I am proud to stand here with 
Senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Dick Durbin in introducing the 
Maintaining dignity and Eliminating unnecessary Restrictive Confinement 
of Youths Act of 2015, or the MERCY Act. This bipartisan bill would 
prohibit juvenile detention facilities from placing federally 
adjudicated delinquents in solitary confinement and would limit the use 
of such confinement for all juveniles in federal pretrial detainment. 
Prolonged use of solitary confinement of young people often results in 
severe psychological harm and it is time the federal government leads 
on this issue and bans the practice.
  The juvenile justice system was created because it has always been 
understood that children are different than adults and need special 
protection. It was founded on the principle that youth are malleable 
and, therefore, the focus should be on rehabilitation rather than 
punishment. Adolescents are still developing psychologically and 
physiologically and have different needs than adults. In fact, research 
has shown that brains in humans do not fully develop in most 
individuals until the age of 25, which underscores the fragility of 
these young Americans. Unfortunately, our juvenile justice system has 
lost its way and the emphasis has shifted from one of rehabilitation to 
punishment. Children are finding themselves trapped in a criminal 
justice system that does more harm than good and nowhere is that more 
evident than in the practice of solitary confinement.
  In 2011 alone, more than 95,000 youth were held in prisons and jails, 
and a significant number were held in isolation. In 2013, the 
Department of Justice found that 47 percent of juvenile detention 
centers locked youth in solitary confinement for more than four hours 
at a time, and some held youth for up to 23 hours a day with no human 
interaction. Words can hardly explain the horrors many children face 
while placed in isolation. Young people held in solitary suffer from 
resounding psychological and neurological damage, including depression, 
hallucinations, paranoia, anger, and anxiety. U.S. Supreme Court 
Justice Anthony Kennedy recently commented on the practice of solitary 
confinement in an opinion and said, ``The penal system has a solitary 
confinement regime that will bring you to the edge of madness, perhaps 
to madness itself.'' The negative impact that this practice can have on 
youth is evidenced by the fact that studies have shown that half of all 
suicides by juveniles in detention facilities occurred in isolation.
  Medical experts to civil and human rights advocates have made calls 
to end this horrible practice. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on 
Torture called for the practice to be banned across the globe. Despite 
the extensive data that demonstrates the harmful nature of solitary, 
the United States continues to use solitary confinement at alarming 
rates. It is time the United

[[Page S6388]]

States catch up to international standards and ban the use of 
unnecessary juvenile solitary confinement.
  The MERCY Act would prohibit the use of solitary confinement of youth 
adjudicated delinquent in the Federal system, unless it is a temporary 
response to a serious risk of harm to the juvenile or others. 
Additionally, it would preclude the use of solitary confinement of any 
youth awaiting trial in federal court regardless of whether that person 
is being tried as an adult or juvenile. The bill ensures that before a 
juvenile is placed in room confinement, the staff member must use the 
least restrictive techniques, including de-escalation techniques or 
discussions with a qualified mental health professional. It mandates 
that juveniles be informed of why the room confinement placement 
occurred and that release will occur upon the youth regaining self-
control or a certain period of time has elapsed. The Mercy Act limits 
solitary confinement on juveniles that pose a risk of harm to others to 
no more than 3 hours and to juveniles who pose a risk of harm to 
themselves to no more than half an hour. Finally, after the maximum 
periods of confinement expires, the bill mandates that juveniles be 
transferred to a facility where appropriate services can be provided.
  If we truly want our criminal justice system to reflect our founding 
principles as a nation of liberty and justice for all, we must promote 
a more compassionate, common sense approach to rehabilitation that 
helps restore promise in our young people. It is time we ban the 
solitary confinement of youth and I urge the speedy passage of the 
bipartisan MERCY Act.
                                 ______