The three towers that make up the Dallas County jail are cramped and crowded, and jailers struggle to fit more than 6,000 inmates inside. But there’s one isolated section in the West Tower that’s sparsely populated. Many cells sit empty, and some inmates spend 23 hours alone there each day.
The occupants aren’t there because they’re unruly. They’re there because they’re teenagers.
Segregating the teens from the other inmates costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. And jailers worry that the solitude may cause psychological harm. But jail officials, including Sheriff Lupe Valdez, say they have no choice.
[For more of this story, written by Matthew Watkins, go to http://www.dallasnews.com/news...ng-and-stressful.ece]
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