JDAI Strategies to Eliminate the Unnecessary Use of Room Confinement

The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is in more than 250 sites in 39 states.  JDAI is based on eight core strategies for detention reform.  One of the strategies is ensuring safe and humane policies, practices and conditions in juvenile facilities. The Initiative uses a comprehensive set of “best practice” standards and facility assessments conducted by local stakeholders to evaluate and improve conditions of confinement. The JDAI Standards refer to solitary confinement as “room confinement,” defined as the involuntary restriction of a youth alone in a cell, room, or other area, that may only be used as a temporary response to behavior that threatens immediate harm to the youth or others. It may never be used as a punishment or disciplinary sanction.

As part of JDAI, the Center for Children’s Law and Policy identified practical strategies for facility and agency administrators to eliminate solitary confinement.