Youthful inmates
The standards define a youthful inmate as “any person under the age of 18 who is under adult court supervision and incarcerated or detained in a prison or jail.” Standard 115.14 requires adult prisons and jails to house youthful inmates separately from adult inmates. However, agencies may manage this population outside of a housing unit if supervised directly by staff.
Facilities and agencies have flexibility in complying with this standard. For example, they can:
- Confine all youthful inmates to a separate housing unit;
- Transfer youthful inmates to a facility within the agency that enables them to be confined to a separate unit;
- Enter into a cooperative agreement with an outside jurisdiction to enable compliance; or
- Cease confining youthful inmates in adult facilities as a matter of policy or law.
Agencies may, of course, combine these approaches as they see fit. For more on this issue, please visit the PRC FAQ page.