52:17B-171.13 Regulations relative to room restriction for juveniles.

5. a. A juvenile detained in, or sentenced to, a State juvenile correctional facility or county juvenile detention center shall not be subject to room restriction unless the juvenile poses an immediate and substantial risk of harm to others or to the security of the facility, and all other less-restrictive options have been exhausted.

b. A juvenile may be subject to room restriction only for the minimum time required to address the safety risk and for a period that does not compromise the mental and physical health of the juvenile, but in no case shall a juvenile be held in room restriction for more than eight consecutive waking hours without being released for at least two hours for recreation and exercise.

c. A juvenile who is 15 years of age or younger shall not be subject to room restriction for more than two consecutive days. A juvenile who is 16 years of age or older but younger than 18 years of age shall not be subject to room restriction for more than three consecutive days. A juvenile who is 18 years of age or older shall not be subject to room restriction for more than five consecutive days. A juvenile shall not be subject to room restriction for more than 10 total days in a calendar month.

d. Juveniles subject to room restriction shall continue to receive health, mental health, and educational services.

e. Each State correctional facility or county juvenile detention facility shall document, in aggregate, the use of room restriction, including the dates and duration of each occurrence, the reason for placement in room restriction, and the race, age, and gender of the juvenile placed in room restriction. If any health or mental health clinical evaluations were performed, it shall be affirmatively certified that the results of those evaluations were considered in any decision to place the juvenile in room restriction or to continue room restriction.

The aggregate data compiled pursuant to this subsection shall be:

(1) made available for public inspection pursuant to P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), commonly known as the open public records act; and

(2) published on the official Internet website of the Juvenile Justice Commission.

f. This section shall not prohibit the use of single-person rooms or cells for the housing of juveniles in State correctional or county juvenile detention centers.

g. This section does not apply to juveniles in court holding facilities or adult facilities.

h. Nothing in this section shall be construed to conflict with any law providing greater or additional protections to juveniles.

i. For the purposes of this section, "room restriction" shall mean the placement of a juvenile in a State juvenile correctional facility or county juvenile detention center in a locked room or cell, alone or with one other person, for 22 to 24 hours per day. Room restriction shall not include confinement of a juvenile in a single-person room or cell for brief periods of locked-room confinement necessary for institutional operations, including, but not limited to, shift changes, showering, and unit movements.

L.2015, c.89, s.5