Zachary Suri, Contributing Photographer

Manson Youth Institution is shifting to a rehabilitative approach for its dozens of incarcerated boys, per a recent agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Connecticut’s Department of Correction.

Under the agreement, MYI — a correctional facility in Cheshire, Connecticut, that houses male offenders under age 21 — will phase out disciplinary isolation, launch an incentive-based behavior management program and strengthen mental health treatment for children in its custody. About 17 percent of people incarcerated at MYI are children, according to a state DOC population tally from the start of the month. 

Heather Panciera, who works for a state oversight agency for children in government care, has visited MYI multiple times and spoken with incarcerated minors about their experiences in the correctional facility. She noted that the punitive approach MYI has relied on in the past often complicates children’s transition from prison to the outside world.

“They’re all coming back to their communities,” Panciera said. “You don’t want them to come back being more damaged … And the more that you seclude them and lock them up and treat them like animals, that’s going to be the result that you have.”

The agreement marks the end of a yearslong DOJ investigation of MYI’s conditions for youth offenders, prompted by a 2019 OCA report that discussed the treatment of incarcerated children throughout the state. 

The report found that in a six-month stretch in 2018, 56 incarcerated youth were placed in solitary confinement — ranging from three days to a month of isolation. The boys were either confined for disciplinary reasons, such as fighting with other incarcerated youth, or for their own protection.

Some youths were classified as members of a security risk group and were placed in isolation for multiple months. These were generally boys with alleged gang affiliations who might pose a threat to MYI’s staff and other incarcerated youth.

William Carbone, a University of New Haven professor specializing in juvenile justice reform, emphasized the negative psychological impacts of disciplinary isolation, particularly for children. Prolonged isolation worsens anxiety and depression, as well as increasing paranoia and aggression.

After the 2019 OCA report, MYI stopped placing incarcerated children in the security risk group. Youth now spend no more than seven consecutive days in isolation, according to Panciera.

Both Carbone and Panciera shared their relief about the end of disciplinary isolation at MYI. But criminal justice advocate Barbara Fair is skeptical about the agreement, which she worries won’t be carried out quickly. 

Fair pointed to the 2022 PROTECT Act, which established independent oversight of Connecticut’s DOC. Though lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont were required to submit recommendations for the new prison watchdog role a month after the law passed, the interim ombudsman won’t step into the oversight position until Sept. 23. A permanent ombudsman still has not been selected.

“I’ve just seen too much of this state … having laws that they should be enforcing around incarcerated people, and they just don’t, and there seems to be no repercussions for disobeying the law,” Fair said.

The state DOC did not respond to the News’ request for clarification about the timeline for the agreement’s implementation.

New behavior management, mental health support

MYI will also implement an incentive-based behavior management program, underscoring the facility’s shift from disciplinary isolation and other punitive measures to a rehabilitative focus. The agreement does not specify what the programming will involve. 

Carbone hopes incarcerated youth will have activities scheduled throughout the day, such as job skills training and art workshops. He also wants the agreement to improve MYI’s educational opportunities, especially for children with learning disabilities. 

Though MYI provides five hours of instruction per day, most youth don’t consistently attend full days of school, according to the 2019 OCA report. Children attended between 28 and 66 percent of full school days during the 2018 to 2019 school year.

Panciera would like to see MYI facilitate connections between incarcerated youth and their communities, such as by organizing visits from local police, firefighters and paramedics. 

“When they leave, you want them to be able to go to those authority figures and not run from them,” she said.

 The agreement also calls for more thorough mental health assessments and treatment. 

MYI staff classify incarcerated youth based on whether they’ve experienced mental health issues in the past and prioritizes treatment for those with preexisting conditions, Panciera said. But she argued that any teenager who is incarcerated in an adult facility should be experiencing counseling, regardless of their mental health history.

Panciera pointed out that mental health treatment, such as music therapy, can be incorporated into MYI’s new programming for incarcerated youth.

“When you consider all of this together, it’s bound to have a more positive effect on the outcomes we all want, which is that these young people will emerge from these facilities at some point, more likely not to come back,” Carbone said.

Manson Youth Institution currently houses 49 boys and 247 young men between the ages of 18 and 21.