As the state prepares to defend itself against a federal lawsuit for alleged illegal seclusion of mentally ill juvenile offenders, new statistics show the total number of seclusion hours rose significantly last year.
...The Dispatch found through a public-records request that in the 2013 calendar year, DYS increased use of seclusion after reducing it the previous year. Youths were in seclusion units a total of 209,266 hours last year, which averages about 453 hours for each youth in all of the facilities, whether they were actually placed in seclusion or not. That compares with 187,600 hours in 2012, an average of about 362 per offender.
The numbers represent all offenders, not just mentally ill juveniles who are the subject of the federal suit. The number of hours mentally ill offenders spent in seclusion was not available.
The 2013 increase is in contrast to the 26.7 percent drop from 2011 to 2012.
Total seclusion hours rose even though the number of offenders shrank from 2012 to 2013, to an average of 461 from 517.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/03/21/locked-up-kids-secluded-more-in-2013.html
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