Reading Dana Liebelson's investigation into the treatment of children in America's adult prisons, one entirely irrational thought occurs over and over: Somebody needs to send in a SEAL team that can land on the prison roof, shimmy inside and rescue these kids before any more harm is done to them.

Of course, the kids aren't being held by a hostile foreign government or a rogue terrorist group, but, in this particular case, by the state of Michigan. The sense of urgency, however, is real, driven by the kinds of stories Liebelson uncovers: a boy who says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by grown men he's forced to bunk with; a girl manhandled in a cell extraction captured on video; a lack of any focus on educational or rehabilitative services; the casual use of solitary confinement; kids attempting suicide in the most horrific ways. And for what?

The overincarceration of people in American society has reached pathological levels, but for the same treatment to be meted out to children demands immediate intervention. Liberals, conservatives and libertarians are all coming together to call for comprehensive criminal justice reform, and the movement's progress is impressive and hopeful. But there is a long way to go, and these kids can't wait.

Some of the young people in Liebelson's story are involved in a lawsuit against the state, asking to be "housed in a safe environment free of sexual assaults, sexual harassment, and physical violence perpetrated by adult prisoners and/or staff." That they've done so takes an inspiring depth of courage, given allegations that Michigan corrections staff retaliate against those who complain. And not just prisoners: A special agent with the state attorney general's office followed Liebelson to two separate prisons to serve her twice with subpoenas for her notes of her conversations with inmates incarcerated as kids.