{Charleston, West Virginia}...West Virginia has stopped using solitary confinement to punish juvenile offenders in response to a lawsuit by two inmates at the Industrial Home for Youth in Salem, the state's maximum-security corrections facility for juveniles. The lawsuit was filed with the West Virginia Supreme Court Tuesday. Both residents were sentenced for crimes at age 17 and remain incarcerated there as young adults. The lawsuit alleges Juvenile Services is treating juvenile offenders too much like adult prisoners even though state law makes a distinction between the two and emphasizes efforts to reform young offenders rather than just punish them. The lawsuit also alleges that through repressive policies including inadequate access to bathroom facilities, strip searches, lack of organized exercise programs and the use of prison garb, the current regimen limits the ability of residents to develop appropriate social skills and to reintegrate effectively and safely into society.
