John Pfaff was quoted in the Agence France-Presse about Obama’s plan to reform the U.S. correctional system.
Obama’s reforms are expected to affect about 10,000 inmates. He said he hoped they serve as a model for US states to rethink their rules about a practice which many say has devastating psychological effects.
“Solitary is profoundly mentally destructive, especially when administered to children and young adults,” Fordham Law School professor John Pfaff told AFP.
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And Obama’s prison reform is also highly symbolic, its efforts likely to have little real impact, since just 26 of the 200,000 federal inmates are juveniles.
“The policy directive, then, is aimed more at trying to inspire states to reform their policies towards juveniles,” Pfaff said.
“In that sense, I think it is driven by an interest in ‘common humanity’,” he added, referring back to Obama’s op-ed piece.