North Carolina County Jail Eases Rules For Teens In Solitary

A North Carolina county jail has eased restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds held in solitary confinement.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Mecklenburg County still holds youths in solitary confinement, despite 2016 bans on the practice for youths in federal custody and youths in the state prison system. But the sheriff's office tells the newspaper that it has begun letting the teens out of their cells for four hours each weekday, instead of one.

They don't get to leave their cells on weekends.

Until around three weeks ago, teens held in solitary confinement could spend their daily one hour out of their cells in a walled courtyard, with no access to television, class or other inmates. Now, the teens can do schoolwork, request library books and participate in therapy.