Youths in Illinois' troubled juvenile prisons would receive enhanced access to education, mental health services and other improvements under a proposal that awaits a judge's approval.
Eighteen months after suing the state's Department of Juvenile Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said Monday it has reached a tentative agreement to improve conditions for the nearly 800 youths incarcerated in six facilities across the state. Most in juvenile prisons are ages 13 to 21.
The pact, filed late last week in federal court, mandates a five-hour school day, smaller class sizes and mental health treatment plans. Each child would be allowed at least eight hours a day outside his or her cell to attend class, receive mental health services, exercise or perform a work assignment.
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