Minnesota seclusion rooms draw scrutiny as advocates push for ban
Minnesota seclusion rooms remain legal in dozens of districts, with advocates urging lawmakers to ban the practice after new photos reveal concrete isolation spaces used on children with disabilities.
Imagine being at your most overstimulated and emotional state, thrown into a small concrete room alone with the door locked for an unknown amount of time. Now imagine you’re nine years old.
Attorneys at the Minnesota Disability Law Center (DLC) say this is the reality many elementary children face due to “seclusion rooms” in Minnesota schools. While outdated, these rooms are still legal, and for the first time the public has been shown photos of these spaces across the state.
On February 11 the Minnesota DLC released a report documenting what these “seclusion rooms” look like, in an effort to persuade the Minnesota legislature to ban them in the upcoming session. Used primarily for children with disabilities, Minnesota law allows a school district to isolate children in emergencies where an “immediate intervention is needed to protect a child or other individual from physical injury.”
“It’s a very antiquated practice, and it’s one we know is traumatizing for both the children and the staff that uses it,” said Attorney Jessica Heiser of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Minnesota Disability Law Center.
Eerily similar to solitary confinement, many of these rooms are concrete, closet-sized, and feature thick four-inch magnetic-locking doors, like a jail cell. While the practice has been banned for children in grades K-3 in Minnesota and fully banned in 11 states, it is still used in 50 Minnesota school districts.
Tracking exactly where these rooms remain in use has been challenging. “Our investigation and monitoring revealed that it is really hard to even find out where [these rooms] are being used,” Heiser said.
“They’re kind of in the dregs of the building, usually where parents or members of the public wouldn’t be able to see them.”
The idea of isolating a child to calm down might sound reasonable if the room provided the proper resources, a sensory space or comforting environment, but these seclusion rooms are far from that.
“Minnesotans can make their own determination about the humanity of these empty, locked cinderblock spaces. The legislature has discussed eliminating the use of seclusion for years,” said Attorney Jessica Webster from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.
“These small rooms that kids are dragged into are NOT calming rooms. Children deserve sensory rooms and calming spaces with toys, climbers, and other tools to de-stress.”
In the last school year, at least 194 seclusion rooms were reported in 100 school buildings across Minnesota. Most are found in more restrictive public school settings for children with disabilities (level 3 or 4 schools), though it varies by school district culture. Some Level 4 schools have banned the practice.
The report notes that 40% of all seclusion rooms are located in just four school districts. Attorney Heiser said Black and Brown children are disproportionately affected. “The answer is exactly who you’d think it’d be: Black, Brown, Native boys. Boys disproportionately to girls,” Heiser said.
“Usually they have some kind of behavior component; autism is our biggest one. If you’re a Black boy with autism, the likelihood of being secluded is significantly greater than if you’re a white girl with a learning disability.”
Heiser shared one case involving a Black 3rd grader from a rural Minnesota school. The child was placed in one of these rooms for hours until his mother picked him up and was later hospitalized with multiple brain hematomas from injuring himself.
“The mom didn’t even know this room existed. He had run his head into the cinderblock wall to try to get out and escape from the staff,” Heiser said. “The mom was like, ‘He’s gonna die in school. I have to pull him out.’ So she pulled him out and started homeschooling him herself.”
Many children across Minnesota have been left traumatized with lifelong effects. “They develop aversions to school. They don’t even want to be in school buildings. Some develop issues with confined spaces, almost a type of claustrophobia,” Heiser said.
“It’s an ongoing trauma, and when we do this to children so young, it’s difficult to understand what the lifelong effects will be.”
The law center aims to raise awareness that these rooms still exist and encourage parents and school staff who may feel hesitant to speak out. “Parents and staff can be more aware of whether their district uses these rooms,” Heiser said.
“They can advocate to their school board and administrators about why seclusion should not be used in their building.”
For the full report produced by Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Disability Law Center, visit www.mylegalaid.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Seclusion-Room-Report-2026-2.pdf.
Izzy Canizares is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.