Cruel and Inhuman: US slammed by UN as only nation that sentences children to die in prison

Sarah Lazare
Common Dreams
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:00 UTC

© childrenofprison.eu

Some children go to jail. Some children never leave.

Special Rapporteur Juan Méndez notes US policy violates international human rights law

A United Nations human rights expert strongly condemned the U.S. on Tuesday for being the "only State in the world that still sentences children to life imprisonment without the opportunity for parole," thereby imposing cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.

© www.un.org

Standing up for children's rights, Special Rapporteur Juan Méndez

Juan Méndez, the Special Rapporteur on torture, made the comments in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva—building from his previous censure of cruel incarceration practices in a nation that locks up more people than any other country in the world.

Méndez noted that the U.S. practice of imposing life sentences on children in cases of homicide violates international law on numerous fronts, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. "Life sentences or sentences of an extreme length have a disproportionate impact on children and cause physical and psychological harm that amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment," he wrote.

Such prison sentences are widespread. Approximately 2,500 people in the U.S. are currently serving life sentences without parole for crimes allegedly committed as juveniles, the Sentencing Project finds (pdf).

These sentences reflect—and reinforce—racial disparities in U.S. society. "White juvenile offenders with African-American victims are only about half as likely (3.6%) to receive a [juvenile life without parole] sentence as their proportion of arrests for killing an African-American (6.4%)," the Sentencing Project notes.

However, the injustices do not stop there.

Méndez blasted another policy that is rampant in U.S. jails and prisons: holding people under the age of 18 in solitary confinement.

Comment: From a young woman in Michigan: I think [the cell] would ... look like any other cell. You know, a box. There was a bed—the slab. It was concrete.... There was a stainless steel toilet/sink combo.... The door was solid, without a food slot or window.... It looked like a basement because all I could see was brick walls. There was no window at all ... [I felt] doomed, like I was being banished ... like you have the plague or that you are the worst thing on earth. Like you are set apart [from] everything else. I guess [I wanted to] feel like I was part of the human race—not like some animal.

- 79% witnessed violence in their homes
- 32% grew up in public housing
- 40% had been enrolled in special education classes
- Fewer than half were attending school at the time of their offense
- 47% were physically abused
- 80% of girls reported histories of physical abuse and 77% of girls reported histories of sexual abuse

"In accordance with views of the Committee against Torture, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and the Committee on the Rights of the Child," wrote Méndez, "the Special Rapporteur is of the view that the imposition of solitary confinement, of any duration, on children constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or even torture."

Comment: Youngsters in solitary confinement exhibit thoughts of suicide and self-harm; visual and auditory hallucinations; feelings of depression; acute anxiety; shifting sleep patterns; nightmares and traumatic memories; and uncontrollable anger or rage. They experience a lack of exercise, physical changes, stunted growth, weight loss, hunger, hair loss, time loss, memory loss. Some are allowed no visits, phone calls, or letters, denied access to pen or paper, books or the minimal education provided by the facility (4 hours per week and/or self-study packets). Others have been granted minimal visits while in a cage, behind glass or by video-conference.

Méndez's statements follow his previous call for a ban of all long-term solitary confinement—of any person, at any age—which he has described as torture. Méndez has repeatedly expressed concern about the rampant imposition of long-term solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, particularly in California, which has seen repeated prisoner hunger strikes over this and other abusive practices.

Mohamed Shehk, communications director for Critical Resistance, told Common Dreams that the Special Rapporteur's latest report highlights "just one aspect of a system that continues to lock up people and destroy communities."

"Of course life without parole for children should be abolished," said Shehk. "Life without parole for anyone should be abolished. This is a system that throws people away in prisons and jails and completely ignores any kind of global call to end that practice, even though it completely contradicts international law—which the U.S. claims to hold so dearly."

Comment: When public services are run for profit, judges are paid to fill jails and they do so with child convicts. Fill the prison, build another and increase the profit. The US holds 25% of the world's prison population for 5% of the world's people. In 1990 jail population was 1M and 5 private prisons, by 2000 it grew to 2M and 100 private prisons. Corporate stockholders make money off prisoners' work and taxpayer dollars. Prisoners = workforce = profit. Between 1980 and 1994 profits went from $392M to $1.31B. In private prisons, inmates receive as little as 17 cents per hour or $20 per month. Factories are firing their workers and contracting with prisoner-workers. It's about the money. And because they can.