![\"Nikhil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SUT-L-STUDENT-ACTIVISTS-0715-003.jpg\")
Nikhil Plettner Booker and Ashley Ordaz plan for their later discussion with Sheriff Kelly Martinez on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nThey can\u2019t yet vote, but they\u2019re not waiting to engage their elected representatives.<\/p>\n
A small group of local high school students has launched a political campaign to reduce or eliminate solitary confinement in San Diego County jails, joining a dedicated team of adults who have been waging the fight for years.<\/p>\n
Calling themselves Youth to End Solitary SD, or YES SD, the teenage activists have been lobbying elected officials in recent months to promote their policy positions.<\/p>\n
Next up: Sheriff Kelly Martinez, whom they will sit down with Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do want a fundamental restructuring of how we address inmates who pose a threat to themselves and vulnerable inmates like the LGBTQ+ and the elderly,\u201d said Nikhil Plettner Booker, a 17-year-old who will start his senior year at San Diego High School next month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do believe there is a pragmatic approach to phasing out solitary confinement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nikhil Plettner Booker and Ashley Ordaz plan for their later discussion with Sheriff Kelly Martinez on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Plettner Booker founded the activist group late last year with eight or so members out of a shared concern for people trapped in the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n
YES SD has an ambitious two-pronged plan to persuade the sheriff to find alternatives to so-called administrative separation, or \u201cad sep,\u201d for mentally ill people in custody. They want to persuade the sheriff to rely less on isolation cells and at the same time to improve treatment for those in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting\u00a0an individual who is suffering from mental illness in isolation, without any meaningful access to psychological support, is going to increase the chances that they will hurt themselves,\u201d Plettner Booker said.<\/p>\n
The activists cite study after study that have detailed the harms caused by of isolation cells, including in San Diego County jails. Just last summer, two men in so-called administrative segregation died gruesome deaths<\/a> after being left alone despite their repeated cries for help.<\/p>\n So far, the activists have met with state Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins, a San Diego Democrat representing the 79th District, and county Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, who has pushed for jail reforms.<\/p>\n \u201cMeeting with constituents, listening to different perspectives and engaging in thoughtful dialogue are important parts of public service,\u201d Montgomery Steppe said. \u201cI appreciate these students for taking the initiative to learn about an issue, organize their peers and participate in the democratic process.\u201d<\/p>\n They also have met with families of people who died in isolation in San Diego County jails. And they have toured two facilities so far \u2014 and plan to visit the Men\u2019s Central Jail in downtown San Diego on Thursday.<\/p>\n Ashley Ordaz is an incoming senior at University City High School who met Plettner Booker through the Aaron Price Fellows Program<\/a>, a local charitable effort that works to engage young people in their democracy.<\/p>\n She said YES SD was borne out of a mutual concern for people whose lives and families have been harmed by solitary confinement in particular.<\/p>\n \u201cI do have a few friends with family members who did not make it out\u201d of jail, Ordaz said. \u201cNot only did I experience it firsthand with my friends and family, the more research you do, the more you realize that putting these people in isolation is not improving their health at all.<\/p>\n \u201cSolitary confinement is not reflection time,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just straight-up torture.\u201d<\/p>\n Several YES SD members also attended recent meetings of the Citizens\u2019 Law Enforcement Review Board<\/a>, the civilian oversight board for the county Sheriff\u2019s Office and Probation Department.<\/p>\n There they met Yusef Miller, the longtime North County Equity and Justice Coalition executive who also runs Saving Lives in Custody California, the nonprofit organization started by Paloma Serna, whose 24-year-old daughter died in the Law Colinas women\u2019s jail in 2019.<\/p>\n Miller called the group a dedicated coalition of energetic, focused and strategic young people who will surely make a difference.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to several very impactful outcomes from this coalition, now and in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that their voice will carry a lot of weight \u2014 not only because their campaign is righteous but because their vibrant, energetic delivery will caution the wise to move the needle.\u201d<\/p>\n More than a dozen people detained in San Diego County jails have filed sworn declarations<\/a> saying they are often left alone for 23 hours a day \u2014 or more.<\/p>\n![\"Nikhil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SUT-L-STUDENT-ACTIVISTS-0715-002.jpg\")
Nikhil Plettner Booker and Ashley Ordaz plan for their later discussion with Sheriff Kelly Martinez on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n