By Lynndi Lockenour
From the security guard and metal detectors at the front door, to the automated locks and numerous cameras, the St. Charles Juvenile Detention Facility is one of the most secure of its kind. The center was opened in November 2002 and administrator of 30 years, Ray Grush said other correctional facilities visit St. Charles to acquire information on how to make their centers better.
The center originally began in 1989, with the capacity to accommodate 15 youth. Today’s facility can house 32 if need arises, but is usually run as if it had the capacity of only 16 youths. Because the state standard says there must be one staff member for every eight young people, Grush said running on the 16 person capacity allows the center to prevent overstaffing, but still run at the most efficient level possible. “We can bring in additional staff if there are more than 16 residents here,” he said, “but on the average day we have around 12 youth in the facility, so there is no need to staff the building as though there were 32.”
The Process
The most typical offense of young people at the center is violating the rules of a program with which they are involved. “Usually the people we see in here are kids who committed a crime, but where either put into one of our programs or on parole because it wasn’t very serious,” he said. “But then when they violate that parole or the rules of the program, they land in here.” However, Grush said if a youth commits a felony crime involving sexual assault, weapons, distribution of drugs or assault, then those crimes are serious enough to place them in detention from the beginning.
There is no bail or bond in the juvenile system because Grush said it is assumed that the child’s parents can be responsible for the child and will bring them to program meetings and conferences. For this reason, Grush said detention is only used for short-term holding while awaiting court action. “Detention is not a form of treatment,” he said. “We put a priority on a kid when they are in detention.” This priority comes in the form of a detention hearing, which must be held within three business days of a youth’s arrival to the center. “Our job is to prove that the youth is a risk to the community if that is the case,” Grush said. However, he said a youth is usually released to their parents if they are present and want to take them home. “If the youth needs treatment for a particular thing, then they are committed to Youth and Family Services to receive that treatment.
Youth and Family Services then classify the youth according to their history and social ability, putting them in the appropriate programs based on this assessment. With the longest stay of a resident being nine months at the old facility, Grush said quickness is something they strive for. “We’ve tried to make it a priority to get them through the system as quickly as possible,” he said.” Two commissioners and one judge allot one day a week specifically for juvenile cases and because they all work on separate days, it allows the three day waiting period to be met.
A Typical Day
Usually a day at the center would include school, with a teacher provided by the St. Charles County School District. Grush said the youth at the facility attend school when St. Charles County schools are in session. “If they have a vacation, then we do too,” he said. The day would also include meals, which are prepared at the Department of Corrections and then transported to the juvenile facility. “They aren’t home cooking,” Grush said, “but they are wholesome and nutritious.”
The residents are also provided with around two hours of structured recreational time every day. The center is equipped with both a gymnasium and an outdoor activity area. “Even when it’s too hot for you and I, the kids would rather be outdoors for some period of time instead of sitting around,” Grush said. Residents are also responsible for keeping their area clean, so the average day may involve a certain amount of cleaning.
Residents are allowed visits from their parents and lawyer. The center usually does not allow visits from other families, but Grush said exceptions could be made in certain situations. “Say we had a young person who’s brother or sister was in the military and they just got back on a 30 day leave,” he said, “then we might make an exception so that they could see them.” Grush said the reason they encourage parental visits is in the hope of building a relationship. “Hopefully their relationships will improve once they go home,” he said, “which we hope will keep the kid from getting in trouble again.”
The Level System
At the juvenile detention center, a level system, ranging from one to five, is established from the time a youth arrives to the facility. For every good thing a youth does to stay on track, they receive points and the more points they receive allow them to move up to the next level. With each level comes more privileges, but the residents can never gain enough points or climb enough levels to leave the facility.
One privilege is the type of visitation a youth receives. Once they reach level three, a youth is allowed visits in the contact visiting room. This is a room where, though the parents and child enter separately, they are allowed to touch, hold hands and talk face-to-face. For those still at level one or two, visits are facilitated in secure visiting rooms. The parents and children enter in separate doors and are separated by a panel of glass. They use phones and an intercom system to communicate through the glass.
Though Grush said there isn’t an abundance of privileges the center can give and take away, they are enough that the kids learn once they earn the points, they want to do what they have to keep them. “The design of the system allows the kids to move up the system quickly because the average length of stay here is between 10 and 14 days,” he said. “If they were going to be at level one for a month, then the kids would never see the light at the end of the tunnel.” With the current system, a resident can go from level one to level three in one week if they maintain good behavior. “The whole idea behind the levels system is teaching the kids that they, themselves, control their own behavior.”
The Set Up
Grush said all staff members at the facility are trained in self-defense in case a situation was to arise where they would need it. “Our principle responsibility is to provide public safety by keeping the young people in here secure,” he said. “Then, secondly, to keep residents safe in their person while they are in here.
To facilitate keeping the residents safe, individual rooms are used, which Grush said makes management much easier. “Young people are driven by impulse, lack of control and lack of self-esteem,” he said. “We never put anything past the imagination or creativity of young people.” The individual rooms also give more privacy and security to the residents, which Grush said helps them make progress.
The 32 individual rooms are divided into three pods on two levels. Each pod is assigned to one of three categories: young males, older males and females. Though they use this tentative plan, if more residents were to come in, the arrangement would change. Each pod is equipped for handicapped people incase a youth were handicapped or hurt themselves somehow. Each pod also has a shower where residents bathe once a day and receive a fresh set of clothes. Upon arrival to the center, residents are given uniforms so that everyone matches. “Some kids come in here wearing rags and others brand names,” Grush said. “We don’t want that to be an issue between them, so everyone wears the exact same thing.”
The pods are arranged in this way because there tend to be considerably fewer females detained than males. “I’d say for every one female that is processed through our system, we get three males,” Grush said. The youngest child to come through the center was 10, and the oldest was 18 years old. Though the detention center takes children up until the age of 18, it is possible for someone 17 or older to be committed to the Department of Corrections if their crime is a criminal offense.
The Money
Grush said he would guess that it costs an average of $100 a day to keep a resident in detention. Other communities can send youth to the St. Charles facility, but they are charged a fee of $82 per day to do so. Grush said this happens either when a district doesn’t have a juvenile center or their center is full. “If we didn’t allow other residents, then that bed would be vacant,” he said. “That means it would cost even more to run the center, so allowing others offsets our cost.”
When planning the design for the current facility, Grush said they wanted a large gymnasium in case more residents come to the center. This large gymnasium became a reality with the help of nearly a million dollar federal grant. “Altogether I think we received around $1,000,050 of federal money for this center.”
Though most people think crimes committed by youths would increase in the summer, Grush said they see fewer kids during the summer months. He attributes this to school being a major problem with many kids, leading them to violent behavior. “School is one area of conflict in their lives they don’t have to deal with in the summer,” he said. “If a youth feels less conflict, then they are less likely to act out.” He also said children often spend more time with their families during the summer, which might prevent the violence.
One third of all people in St. Charles County are under the age of 18, which means the potential need for a bigger center in the future. This need was addressed with the architectural design of the new building. The land surrounding the building can be used for expansion if it is ever needed. Because the holding chambers are designed on a curve, the exact layout could be replicated to double the number of rooms to 64. Grush said even though he knows the growth will be incremental; he doubts he will ever see the need for a facility that large.
The Programs
Though Grush mentioned several times that the detention center is not a treatment facility, youth who appear to need treatment are referred to Youth and Family Services where they can then be entered in a combination of 16 different programs. The first of which is Diversion Services. It provides a juvenile and their family with a way to resolve conflicts that might be leading to the youth’s negative behavior. Family Assessment and Therapy is for the entire family based upon the juvenile’s presenting problem, family situation and the family’s activeness to treatment.
Community Service can be assigned to youth with a relatively minor history. A juvenile must be at least 14 to be assigned to community service projects. Pay Back Incorporated is a non-profit organization that raises funds privately to be paid to victims of acts committed by juveniles when and if the youth performs a prescribed number of hours of community service.
NOW (No Offense and Win) uses a classroom format to present and discuss issues like self-esteem, conflict resolution, and peer pressure with the objective of teaching problem solving skills and making responsible choices. This program is designed for youth between the ages of 10 and 13. Tracker is an intensive supervision program, which involves a tracker who has daily contact with each youth. The tracker assists and reports to the juvenile if they violate probation or have other problems. The tracker can also recommend additional services if they are needed.
Street Law is a program, which consists of a two-hour class presented one night a week for eight consecutive weeks. The class deals with issues such as self-concept, authority, crime, consequences, family court, police/community relations, legal relations and personal relationships, drug/alcohol abuse and attitude formation. This program is designed for youth between the ages of 14 and 16. Guest Day Treatment is a program, which focuses on individual counseling, group discussion and family therapy.
F.A.C.E. (Facing the Problem, Acting Appropriately, Concentrating on Solutions, Ending the Violence) is a 10-week program designed to train juveniles on the skills necessary to handle conflicts and disagreements responsibly, without losing control and resorting to violence. A.S.A.P. (Adolescent Sexual Adjustment Program) is a therapy program in the form of individual, group and family for juveniles found to have engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior.
3-D (Dummies Do Drugs) is a program consisting of two-hour classes presented one night a week for four consecutive weeks. The class deals with issues such as: the addiction properties of alcohol and drugs, the genetic impact influencing use/abuse, decision making and the impact of the choices, treatment and a drug-free lifestyle. JFSI (Juvenile Fire Setter Intervention Program is an early intervention program to identify juveniles at risk for fire play or fire setting to prevent the reoccurrences of such incidents by using short-term evaluation, education and referral for services.
Juvenile Drug Court is a program that combines juvenile justice services with alcohol/drug treatment with a strong emphasis on judicial oversight of participants. The parents and the youth are required to participate in educational programming as well as family counseling. Psychological Services is an outpatient-testing program ranging from brief screening through complete battery of psychological testing.
Supervision is a program where a Deputy Juvenile Officer through the informal adjustment process may place a juvenile on informal supervision. Assignment to this service is by mutual consent and may be terminated by either party. Residential Placement is a program where private placement is contingent upon funding availability and acceptance of the juvenile by a respective agency. Continued placement and length of stay is dependant upon individual performance.
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