HB 755 Summary

• Creates section 945.425 prohibiting the Department of Corrections from placing youth under 19 years old in solitary confinement except for emergency or medical confinement, and bans all punitive solitary confinement.

• Authorizes emergency confinement only when nonphysical interventions fail and the youth presents imminent danger, with mental health evaluations within 1 hour and every hour thereafter, limited to 4 hours (extendable once to 8 hours maximum).

• Authorizes medical confinement only when isolation is medically necessary, with medical professional evaluations every 12 hours, limited to the time needed for recovery or disease prevention.

• Creates similar solitary confinement restrictions for the Department of Juvenile Justice under sections 985.28 and 985.4415 for children under 19 in detention and residential facilities.

• Requires both departments and county detention facility boards to review policies, certify compliance by January 1, 2020, and adopt necessary rules; effective July 1, 2019.