U.S. President Barack Obama announced a ban on solitary confinement for juveniles detained in federal prisons in the United States, noting that the practice can cause devastating psychological effects on the juvenile. As part of this, the U.S. also instituted related restrictions on the use of solitary confinement among adult inmates in federal prisons.
It is estimated that between September 2014 and September 2015, federal authorities were notified of 13 juveniles who were put in solitary in its prisons (but the practice is much more common among adult inmates.)
Research has increasingly shown a connection between solitary confinement of prisoners and higher rates of recidivism. The President wrote in an op-ed, “How can we subject prisoners to unnecessary solitary confinement, knowing its effects, and then expect them to return to our communities as whole people? It doesn’t make us safer. It’s an affront to our common humanity.”