Following litigation involving the U.S. Department of Justice and the Children’s Law Center of Kentucky, the Ohio Department of Youth Services (ODYS) entered into an agreement with to eliminate the use of seclusion in its juvenile correctional facilities. As part of this consent decree, ODYS abolished the use of seclusion for disciplinary sanctions, created alternatives to the use of seclusion, and instituted increased oversight into the use of seclusion. In the months following the implementation of these changes between 2014 and 2016, the vast majority of seclusion episodes ended within 4 hours, with the average length of seclusion being 2.83 hours. To learn more about Ohio Department of Youth Services work to significantly reduce the use of solitary, click here.
The organization involved in federal litigation against ODYS, Children’s Law Center, also created a state-based campaign called Stop Solitary for Ohio’s Youth, to prevent youth from being placed in solitary when held in any out-of-home placement.