Health Services to Adolescents in Adult Correctional Facilities (2018)

Judicial and correctional authorities have always been challenged with the problem of adolescents committing offenses. In response to rising rates of serious violent juvenile crime (aggravated assault, rape, robbery, murder) in the 1980s and 1990s, state legislatures expanded laws facilitating transfer of juvenile offenders to the adult criminal justice system, including lowering the age that adolescents could be tried in adult criminal court and increasing the housing of youth in adult correctional facilities (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014). In recent years, progress has been made in raising the mandatory age for charging youth in the adult criminal system solely based on their age (Justice Policy Institute, 2017), but all states have provisions for transferring cases to the adult criminal court (National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL], 2011a; Statistical Briefing Book, n.d.; Teigen, 2017).

Although rates of juvenile offenses and serious violent crime have steadily declined since the mid-1990s (Sickmund & Puzzanchera, 2014, Statistical Briefing Book, n.d.) and most youth in criminal courts are not charged with serious violent offenses, youth adjudicated in the adult criminal system are more likely to be detained for longer periods of time (Kurlychek & Johnson, 2006), to be rearrested, and to commit more serious future offenses than youth who remain in the juvenile justice system (Justice Policy Institute, 2017; NCSL, 2011a).

Furthermore, incarcerating adolescents in adult correctional facilities jeopardizes the long-standing paradigm of protecting the innocence of youth by incarcerating them separately from adults, maintaining their confidentiality, providing them with specialized community-based services, and ensuring that they participate in an individualized justice system. Finally, incarcerating adolescents in adult correctional facilities ignores the fact that the growth and developmental changes that occur in adolescence are substantially different from those that occur in adults.

Adolescence is a period of rapid physical, nutritional, cognitive, and social growth and development. These changes are influenced by a variety of factors including genetic, nutritional, environmental, family, and social experiences. This developmental period is also a time frame when youth are at risk for developing mental health disorders, including depressive and anxiety symptoms, and adolescents may have more than one disorder, including co-occurrence of substance abuse and mental illness (NCSL, 2011b). Approximately two thirds of adolescents who are arrested have a mental health disorder, a rate much higher than among their peers who are not involved in the juvenile justice system (NCSL, 2011a, 2011b). Confinement in any correctional facility may have a major impact on the ultimate outcome of this developmental process.

Adult facilities are not well equipped to deal with the mental or physical health needs of adolescents nor to address education and job training (NCSL, 2011a). Furthermore, staff in adult facilities commonly are not trained or prepared to work with the problems unique to adolescents, thereby impairing the ability of these youth to develop the skills needed to overcome crime and delinquency behaviors (Justice Policy Institute, 2017; NCSL, 2011a). Safety is another major concern, as juveniles housed in adult facilities are at greater risk of physical and sexual assault (NCSL, 2011a). The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission Report (2009) concluded, “Juveniles in confinement are much more likely than incarcerated adults to be sexually abused, and they are particularly at risk when confined with adults.”

Given these facts, it is imperative that correctional programs caring for adolescents be designed specifically to meet their needs. It is unlikely that adult correctional facilities can provide these complex services in a developmentally appropriate and competent manner, thus reinforcing the NCCHC’s position that juveniles should not be incarcerated in adult facilities