Currently in Onondaga County sixteen and seventeen year old youth are being held in the Onondaga County Correctional Facility in Jamesville, NY. These youth are regularly placed in solitary confinement (or what is euphemistically referred to as "punitive segregation"), often for extended periods of time.

Can you imagine your sixteen or seventeen year old child sitting alone in a cell 23 hours per day, without any human interaction for several weeks or even a month?

Countless scientific studies have shown that the damage attributed to solitary confinement can include psychosis, suicidal thinking, self-mutilation and difficulty with concentration and memory, making it more difficult for youth to re-enter society as law abiding citizens and more likely that they will re-enter the correctional system.

We ask that you stand with the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse in immediately ending the solitary confinement of youth in Onondaga County by signing the petition below.  

As people of faith, we believe in the power of redemption. If we fail to end solitary confinement of youth in the Onondaga County Correctional System, children will continue to be damaged by inhumane practices and sentenced to a lifelong interaction with the correctional system.

We can make a difference by getting our children access to services, programming, and educational opportunities which will give them the opportunity to turn their lives around. Together we can ensure that children in this county will be treated with the dignity that they deserve.   

In Peace and Solidarity,

Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse