"Every day in jails and prisons across the United States, large numbers of young people under age 18 are held in solitary confinement. They spend 22 or more hours each day physically and socially isolated in a small cell, often for weeks or even months on end. Adolescents in solitary confinement are routinely denied access to needed treatment, services, and programming. The practice is serious and widespread. The solitary confinement of adults can cause severe pain and suffering and can violate international human rights and US constitutional law. But the potential damage to young people, who do not have the maturity of an adult and are at a particularly vulnerable stage of life, is much greater. Yet, solitary confinement of young people is not necessary; there are alternative ways to address the problems that officials cite as justifications for using solitary confinement. Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union call on US federal and state governments to prohibit the solitary confinement of young people under age 18; prohibit the housing of adolescents with adults or in adult jails and prisons; strictly limit and regulate all forms of segregation and isolation; and monitor and report on the segregation and isolation of young people, whenever they are deprived of their liberty"--Page 4 of cover."This report is the product of a joint initiative--the Aryeh Neier fellowship--between Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union to strengthen respect for human rights in the United States. This report is based on interviews and correspondence undertaken between December 2011 and July 2012 with 127 individuals who were detained in jail or prison while under age 18 in Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Virginia ..."--Page 7.