Five Cal State Northridge graduate students are one step closer to making a difference for minors spending time in solitary confinement.
As part of CSUN professor Jose Paez’s advanced policy class, graduate students Amy Plaster, Katie Cianci, Jamie Biggs, Sandra Sharma and Kevin Trout compiled and presented information that led to the introduction of SB 61 by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), a bill that that would reduce the amount of time youths could spend in solitary confinement while in a juvenile detention facility.
“Any major task starts with a major idea,” Paez said. “I had my reservations, but when I met these students I knew that they were capable of great things.”
All five students advocated the revision of Senate Bill 1363, legislation introduced by Yee in February 2012. The bill, which Trout said fell two votes short of the amount needed to move on to the next stage of voting, sought the same measures found in SB 61.
Cianci said that when the student group began research, several information sources were found citing the ineffectiveness of solitary confinement for minors and detrimental effects on youths, including statistics that show recidivism rates in youths have decreased in states that don’t use solitary confinement and the several state laws that have banned the practice.
The findings were sent to Yee, who used it in his arguments that may help the efforts in passing SB 61.
The objective of the CSUN graduate students’ project was to resurrect SB 1363 and introduce it as SB 61, one that Cianci said uses therapeutic technique for minors that incorporates individual counseling, therapy and education in place of solitary confinement.
There were a variety of topics to choose from for their class project, but according to Paez, the group felt very strongly about pursuing the issue of solitary confinement.
“I am proud and privileged to bear witness to their success,” Paez said.
The group also set up a petition on change.org, so every time they obtained a supportive signature, an email would be sent to Yee’s office.
“I never thought I could make a difference on a large scale,” Cianci said. “It’s very empowering.”
Cianci, whose younger brother was subjected to solitary confinement when he was 16 years old, proposed the idea of pursuing the issue of solitary confinement to the group, Trout said.
Cianci’s said her brother told her he experienced hallucinations while in solitary confinement as a teenager.
Cianci said her brother, who had a history of head trauma, was in greater risk of experiencing adverse effects. Her brother was also diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, an illness with symptoms that Cianci said could be exacerbated by solitary confinement.
Trout said even if SB 61 passes through the Senate, it must survive several committees and a pass in the Assembly before reaching Gov. Jerry Brown, who has the power to veto the bill.
