Thousands of American children jail for the rest of the life in US

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the United States for violating the fundamental rights of thousands of youth offenders serving life sentences without parole in adult US prisons.

According to the latest HRW report, named "Against All Odds,” approximately 2,570 young lifers, serving their terms in US adult prisons, are suffering harsh conditions.

The United States is the only country in the world where youth offenders (below the age of 18) serve life without parole sentences, the report says.

The HRW study, which is based on six years of research, found that "nearly every” youth offender serving life without parole in adult prisons, has been subject to physical violence or sexual abuse by other inmates or corrections officers.

The youth offenders serving life sentences without parole in 38 states and in federal prisons often enter adult prisons while still children, and are deprived of parole opportunities for education, development, and rehabilitation, the HRW says.

The rights group warned that the detained youth offenders widely suffer urge for suicide and deep feelings of loneliness and depression, intensified by frequent solitary confinements, and called on Washington to abolish the sentence of life without parole for crimes committed by children.

The report comes as the US Supreme Court plans to consider arguments about the legality of the practice in March 2012.