No More Solitary Confinement for Adolescent Inmates in NYC; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• Expert: Juvenile Justice Report Will Spur Reform at Rikers Island (The Forum News Group)
  “This reform will promote better behavior, psychological health and emotional well-being among our youngest inmates while lessening violence,” Department of Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte said. “It represents best practices and the least restrictive environment, allowing us to respond more appropriately to the special needs of this troubled population, and help them re-integrate into the community when they leave our care and custody.”

• No More Solitary Confinement for Adolescent Inmates in NYC (WABC New York)
  New York City has ended its longstanding practice of sending 16- and 17-year-old inmates to solitary confinement for breaking rules, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.

• MacArthur Lauds Juvenile Justice Reformers (JJIE)
  In a written letter to the award recipients, MacArthur Foundation interim President Julia Stasch said: “No movement proceeds on the strength of research alone. Reform is animated by the passion and tenacity of the people who make a cause their cause.”

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

• Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Conrad N. Hilton Foundation awards $1.35 million grant to Legal Action Center (Globe NewsWire)
  Through a $1.35 million grant over three years from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, LAC and its partners will evaluate how the full range of adolescent prevention and early intervention services are being offered and to what extent insurers are implementing these services. They also will educate service providers about federal confidentiality requirements crucial to encouraging youth to seek services.

• Teens turn to e-cigarettes as tobacco smoking hits 40-year low among school-aged youths (Michigan Live)
  A new University of Michigan study shows that tobacco use among high school-aged teens has fallen to the lowest it's been in the last 40 years, but kids have replaced traditional smoking habits with something experts say is still harmful to their health.

• LifeWise panel sheds light on youth alcohol abuse (Salt Lake City Weekly)
  Nebraska may offer the good life, but depending on which survey one is reading, its youth now rank from second to the fifth highest in the nation for binge drinking, higher than its surrounding Midwest states.