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Inmates are escorted through the Cayuga County jail in 2006.

(Peter Chen)

Auburn, NY -- An Auburn teenager was punished with 50 days in solitary confinement at the county jail after throwing items and hocking spitballs made with wet tissue paper.

But Jermaine Gotham, 16, was released from solitary 10 days early by Judge Mark Fandrich after a lawsuit was filed against the jail. He remains jailed on robbery, burglary and kidnapping charges, his family said.

The lawsuit argues that Gotham's 20- to 24-hour-a-day confinement was overkill and should not be used against Gotham, or any other teenagers.

"Placing him in solitary confinement is inhumane, cruel, shocks the conscience and is disproportionate to his alleged offense," wrote public interest lawyer Josh Cotter, from Legal Services of Central New York.

Cotter said he's in settlement negotiations with Cayuga County over Gotham's treatment. County officials declined comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit.

Jermaine Gotham

A psychiatrist who evaluated Gotham at the jail's request also found solitary confinement to be a bad punishment.

"I believe this is harmful for him specifically and for adolescents in general and unlikely to serve as a deterrent to future infractions," wrote Dr. Michael Pratts, medical director at Cayuga County Mental Health.

In Auburn, solitary confinement, called "lock-in," allows the inmate one hour of recreation and three hours of schooling, though schooling is sometimes cancelled, the lawsuit states.

Gotham struggles with bipolar disorder and attention deficit enhanced by substance abuse, according to the lawsuit. That makes him especially affected by the lock-in, the lawsuit states.

"Being in solitary confinement has really messed with my head," according to Gotham's affidavit. "I feel sad, depressed, angry, I become irritated very easily and have trouble sleeping. Sometimes being locked in becomes so hard that I feel like I want to physically hurt myself."

Gotham's lawsuit comes as solitary confinement has come under fire, especially for juveniles.

The state prison system has agreed to no longer keep 16- and 17-year-olds in a solitary cell for 23 hours a day. It also agreed to overhaul the use of solitary confinement for all inmates. Those teens in state prison now get at least 5 hours outside their cells, including two hours of recreation and two hours of educational programming.

Onondaga County late last year decided to end solitary confinement of 16- and 17-year-olds in the county jail in Jamesville. But the downtown Syracuse jail, run by the sheriff's office, continues to use it.

In January, President Barack Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons.

Why was he in confinement?

Gotham was punished May 6 with 30 days in solitary confinement for "throwing multiple items" back and forth with another inmate. It took "multiple orders" to get them back in their cells, a jail deputy said.

"Inmate Gotham then began shaking his bars and kicking different things in his cell," the jail deputy wrote in a report.

He was found guilty of fighting, interfering with staff and rules violations.

But Gotham said he was simply playing catch with the other inmate using "a piece of rubber" the boys found the jail, according to court paperwork. Gotham also said he didn't refuse any orders, but he just didn't hear the officer tell him to return to his cell.

A day later, Gotham got another 20 days in solitary confinement for throwing "spit-wads" at the cell block windows using wet tissue paper.

He was found guilty of interfering with staff and rules violations.

Gotham said that it was another inmate who threw spitballs. The other inmate testified at a hearing that Gotham did not throw spitballs, according to court paperwork.

This wasn't the first time Gotham had been held in solitary confinement after his arrest, the lawsuit states.

He'd been in trouble before, spending 60 days in "lock-in" for walking into another inmate's cell, the lawsuit states. But he'd also been sent to the restrictive housing unit -- used to punish adults for misbehavior -- as a matter of convenience because he was the only juvenile in the facility and needed to be kept under special watch, the lawsuit states.

His mother, Angelena Morris, said he's been in and out of solitary confinement for one reason or another since he arrived in January on the robbery, burglary and kidnapping charges.

"He already has severe mental illnesses," Morris said, adding that her 16-year-old son has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.

Since being in solitary confinement, "he's a whole different person," she said. "He has a lot more anger inside of him, he can't be that little boy he's supposed to be."