North Carolina is one of only two states that automatically charges 16 and 17 year old youth as adults. On June 15, 2016, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced plans to reduce the practice of youth under the age of 18 in solitary confinement by September 2016, citing the harms of solitary confinement. In 2015, a coalition of human rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, the ACLU of North Carolina, the University of North Carolina School of Law Human Rights Policy Lab, the UNC Center for Civil Rights, and NC Stop Torture Now sent a letter asking the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into the use of solitary confinement in North Carolina prisons. Click here to read more on the DPS announcement. To read about a new program being implemented by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in response to this announcement, click here.