conditions of confinement for children (i.e., youth under the age of 18) at Manson, pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997 et seq. (CRIPA), and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C. § 12601 (Section 12601). The investigation focused on three issues: (1) whether Manson’s isolation practices violate the constitutional rights of children; (2) whether Manson’s mental health services for children are constitutionally inadequate; and (3) whether Manson violates the IDEA rights of children with disabilities. The Department conducted an onsite tour of Manson in January 2020. During this tour, Department attorneys and expert consultants conducted dozens of interviews of administrators and staff members, including security staff, counselors, mental health clinicians, teachers, administrators, as well as children confined at the facility. Additionally, Department attorneys and expert consultants reviewed over 31,000 pages of documents, including incident and use of force reports, policies and regulations, training materials, mental health records, education records, meeting minutes, lesson plans, shift rosters, unit logs, and investigative files. 1 Following the January 2020 tour, and throughout the pandemic, we continued to receive and review additional and updated documents and records from Manson. In February 2021, we conducted several additional interviews via videoconference. We appreciate the State’s cooperation and professionalism throughout the course of this investigation. Facility administrators and staff provided relevant documents and materials before, during and after our visit and facilitated our on-site visit as well as a number of videoconferences. III. BACKGROUND Manson is a State correctional facility operated by the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) which houses approximately 200 to 300 male youth under the age of 22 years, including children under the age of 18 (“children”) who have been transferred from juvenile court to the adult criminal court system.1 Our investigation focuses exclusively on the children at Manson. During our investigation, Manson housed between 30 and 51 children. The majority of the children (approximately 75 to 80 percent) were being held pending trial and, therefore, had not been tried for (or convicted of) the crimes with which they were charged. Almost all of the children at Manson have at least one mental health diagnosis. Almost two-thirds have also been identified as eligible for special education services. The majority of children at Manson (approximately 75 to 85 percent) are identified as Black or Latinx. Manson’s under-eighteen population is housed separately from the older youth on two units, Units I and J. One wing within the J unit is used as an isolation unit. The individual cells on the isolation unit contain beds, and a sink/toilet. Children assigned to this unit are not permitted to keep personal possessions in their cells. IV. CONDITIONS IDENTIFIED We find that Connecticut is violating the constitutional and federal rights of children in three areas. First, Manson’s isolation practices harm children. Second, the State does not provide adequate mental health care to children. Third, qualified children with disabilities are not receiving the special education services to which they are entitled. 1 Under Connecticut law, children under the age of 18 who are charged with certain felonies are automatically transferred from juvenile court to the adult criminal court if the child was at least 15 years old when the alleged offense occurred. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46b-127. Prosecutors may also petition t
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