Juvenile solitary: Small, brightly lit room with no windows and a metal wall urinal next to a green plastic sleeping pad in the corner on the floor.

Against changing tide, 11 states haven’t limited solitary confinement of juveniles

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“Solitary confinement tried to break my soul and whatever was left of me after my childhood trauma,” said Harlem, New York, native Guzman, now 30 and the executive director of America on Trial, a New York group that advocates for incarcerated people.

While in solitary, corrections officers sometimes refused to let him shower or made him forego being fed whenever he wasn’t at the opening of the doorway of his solitary cell when a meal arrived, added Guzman.

NY Summit Examines How to Help Formerly Incarcerated

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Leyla Martinez didn’t expect to be accepted to Columbia University. She applied to demonstrate a lesson — not to limit himself — to her then-16-year-old son. She was 40, a single mother and formerly incarcerated, not the typical Columbia applicant.