Room confinements in Nebraska juvenile justice get shorter, report says

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services files quarterly reports to the Nebraska Legislature on youth confinements in its facilities. 

Nebraska youths in the juvenile justice system spent fewer hours confined alone in 2021-22, according to the state’s latest annual report on youth confinement.

Youths spent 40,537 hours isolated in 2020-21. Total hours declined to 27,780 in 2021-22, the new report from the Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare showed. 

The number of times youths were confined for more than an hour stayed largely flat, with 1,778 confinements in 2020-21 and 1,793 in 2021-22, per the report.

Nebraska law defines “room confinement” of juvenile offenders as placing them alone in a room or part of a facility against their will.

People who study the mental health impacts of room confinement on young people have noted problems after more than an hour of forced isolation.

That’s part of why the Nebraska Legislature passed a law requiring annual reporting of the length of time and number of incidents of room confinement.

This year’s report highlighted progress made in the state’s juvenile facilities, including the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney.

The Kearney facility said it ended 95% of confinements within 24 hours in 2021-22. That’s up from 34% in 2016-17.

It was one of four state facilities telling the Inspector General’s Office that nearly all room confinements were ended in 24 hours or less. 

The inspector’s report still criticized the facilities for still isolating some youths while they were dealing with mental health crises. 

This year’s Inspector General’s report did not offer information on youths held by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Corrections files quarterly reports to the Nebraska Legislature, and the most recent report was filed in October.

The inspector general said Tuesday her staff was unable to find those reports on the Legislature’s website and that they will correct the error in their report. She also said that without the information being filed directly with her office, her staff would be unable to analyze the information.

The report recommended that the Legislature consider requiring facilities to report all room confinements, even those shorter than an hour.

It asks state senators to consider requiring youth facilities to summarize their own data to offer a chance for more accurate interpretations and to require explanations from facilities reporting no confinements.

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