Story highlights Obama said he was ordering federal penitentiaries to cease using solitary confinement on juvenile offenders

In his final year in office, Obama has said that he'd redouble his efforts on criminal justice reform

Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama said Monday he was moving to ban solitary confinement for juveniles and low-level offenders in federal prisons, a change long sought by advocates of prison reform who argue the punishment exacts a lasting mental toll.

In a Washington Post op-ed , Obama said he came to his decision after a review by the Justice Department determined the practice reduces the chances that prisoners can be rehabilitated into society.

Writing that solitary confinement has been "increasingly overused ... with heartbreaking results," Obama said he was ordering federal penitentiaries to cease using the punishment on juvenile offenders -- in the federal justice system, those under 18 -- and on prisoners who committed non-serious offenses.

He said that when an inmate poses a threat to staff or to himself, solitary confinement was necessary. But he said it should "be limited, applied with constraints and used only as a measure of last resort."

The White House said Obama was also adopting Justice Department recommendations that would limit solitary confinement for prisoners with mental illness and avoid using the practice as a tool to segregate prisoners who face threats from fellow inmates. He wrote in the Post that the move would affect 10,000 federal prisoners.

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