"There's No Excuse" Campaign Calls on Governors to Protect Youth from the Dangers of Adult Jails and Prisons

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ), a national advocacy group dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating, youth under the age of 18 as adults is leading the charge this week to ensure states are in compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act.  CFYJ has joined thousands of individuals and organizations that will be calling on their governors to cease the practice of placing youth in adult jails and prisons in order to comply with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). 

Passed unanimously by Congress in 2003, PREA restricts the placement of youth in adult jails and prisons. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) adopted a standard that restricts the placement of youth in adult facilities and safeguards children in these facilities.

This week, by May 15, 2014, Governors must report to the Department of Justice whether the state has complied with PREA standards or risk losing a percentage of federal funding allocated for justice programs in their state, by complying with the following:

• Banning the housing of youth in the general adult population;
• Prohibiting contact between youth and adults in common areas, and ensuring youth are constantly supervised by staff; and
• Limiting the use of isolation which causes or exacerbates mental health problems for youth.

"The PREA standards will protect hundreds of thousands of kids prosecuted in the adult system every year, and get us one step closer to completely removing youth from adult jails and prisons" said Carmen Daugherty, Policy Director for CFYJ. "We hope that as states implement these important standards they use this opportunity to reconsider the practice of prosecuting and sentencing youth as adults overall."

Please visit CFYJ's fact sheet on the Prison Rape Elimination Act, by visiting here: http://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/preac.html

The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is a national organization dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating youth under the age of 18 in the adult criminal justice system.

For more background on this issue, please visit www.campaignforyouthjustice.org.

SOURCE Campaign for Youth Justice