Examining Youth’s Confinement in State-Run Facilities through a Systematic Review of Videos and Incident Reports

• In Event: Juvenile Confinement and Out-of-Home Placements

Abstract

Conditions of confinement for youth have become a focus of reform at the federal, state, and local levels. More recently, use of restraint and seclusion as responses to youth’s behavior in secure facilities has come under closer scrutiny by administrators, legislators, scholars, and advocates who are concerned about the potential for trauma during confinement. To examine the conditions of confinement, the researchers systematically reviewed videos and reports of incidents from 2015 to 2016 involving minors in Connecticut’s state-run facilities. Videos of youth in juvenile detention centers (n= 57 incidents), youth in the state's training school (n=81 incidents), and youth in the state’s correctional institution for youth and young adults (n=103 incidents) were contrasted with incident reports that detailed the use of restraint or seclusion. The researchers focused on the prevalence of the use of restraints/seclusion, cause of the incident, descriptions of staff involved, nature of the incident, and the behavior of youth following the incident. Overall, the findings suggest the type of correctional setting (long-term vs. short-term and adult vs. juvenile) greatly determines the differences in restraint and seclusion practices. These findings are relevant for key stakeholders who are concerned about youth who are confined in the United States.

Authors

• Sarah Jeffries, University of New Haven

• Sarah J. Giarrusso, University of New Haven

• Lanmeng Ma, University of New Haven

• Melissa Pierre, University of New Haven

• Kendell Coker, University of New Haven

• Danielle Cooper, University of New Haven