At Wisconsin Juvenile Prisons, Children Face a Nightmare of Solitary Confinement and Abuse

Even in a nation where the solitary confinement of youth is still widespread, conditions at the Wisconsin facilities are extreme. In a federal class-action lawsuit filed late last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and Juvenile Law Center assert that these conditions are also unconstitutional. They argue that use of solitary, along with mechanical restraints and pepper spray, violate the children’s Eighth Amendment rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as well as their Fourteenth Amendment rights to rehabilitation and due process.