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Ohio DYS Ends Solitary Confinement, 2024
- Key Facts

Ohio DYS Ends Solitary Confinement, 2024

The United States and the state of Ohio have joined forces to terminate a consent decree with the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS), following the state’s successful elimination of disciplinary solitary confinement on children in its custody.

The consent decree, which was signed in May 2014, had required DYS to dramatically reduce and eventually eliminate the use of solitary confinement on children in its facilities. Additionally, the state committed to ensuring that children in its juvenile facilities receive individualized mental health treatment to prevent and address the conditions and behaviors that led to solitary confinement.

In the order of termination, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio noted the ‘remarkable improvement’ in conditions of confinement at DYS juvenile facilities. The court commended DYS for numerous improvements, including the abolition of the practice of disciplinary solitary confinement, its ‘vastly improved’ mental health services, and a reduction in the incarcerated population from over 2000 children to fewer than 500 today.

The experts who monitored the consent decree prepared and filed with the court a detailed report that explained the reforms DYS made ‘to memorialize [DYS’] major policy and practice decisions for the benefit of others in the field.’

‘The state of Ohio, the administrators of the Department of Youth Services, and their counsel are to be commended for their commitment to reforming Ohio’s juvenile correctional facilities,’ said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. ‘Ohio’s achievements can serve as a model throughout the nation.’

The termination of the consent decree marks a significant milestone in the state’s efforts to reform its juvenile justice system. The department first investigated conditions at Ohio juvenile correctional facilities in 2007 and found constitutional deficiencies in Ohio’s use of physical force, mental health care, grievance investigation and processing, and use of solitary confinement. In June 2008, the department entered into a consent decree with Ohio to remedy these violations at two facilities that are now closed – the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility and the Marion Juvenile Correctional Facility.

Defendant: Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS), Solitary Confinement, Ohio 2024. The defendant has agreed to end solitary confinement in juvenile facilities, following successful reform efforts. The exact date of the consent decree is May 21, 2014. The sentence or outcome is the termination of the consent decree, marking a significant milestone in the state’s efforts to reform its juvenile justice system.