Juvenile programs tailored to needs

| Wednesday, November 30, 2005

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Editor’s note: This is the third story in a three-part series examining the juvenile justice system in South Dakota.

By Vicky Wicks, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY - On a quiet Saturday afternoon at the Western South Dakota Juvenile Services Center, four boys dressed in gray shirts and pants were shooting hoops in the maximum security section’s gym. On the wall, a massive barred window was closed off, but on nice days, it can be opened so the inmates have fresh air and sunshine.

In the medium security section, the juveniles wear blue and have an outdoor activities yard, but the chain-link fence is topped with razor wire to prevent escapes.

In the unrestricted area, doors are not locked, and juveniles can leave the building. Here is where teens are housed if they are status offenders, placed in the facility on Child in Need of Supervision, or CHINS, petitions. Federal guidelines require that status offenders not be kept in secure confinement.

And in the release unit, teens come and go freely, attending school, going to work, and easing back into the community.

Juvenile Services Center is on Cambell Street in Rapid City and usually houses about 69 teens each day, according to Carla Leveque, JSC commander.

Juveniles in maximum security will have an opportunity to work their way toward less restricted levels, with an eye toward rejoining the community. And reintegrating juveniles into the community is at the heart of JSC programs, Leveque said.

The philosophy at JSC mirrors the conventional wisdom developed nationally through studies of juvenile programs: Community-based programs are most effective in treating juvenile problems. Confinement of juveniles should be an option reserved to protect the community or the well-being of the detainee, and if a juvenile is confined, the level of confinement should be as unrestricted as the situation allows.

Both JSC and the state Department of Corrections juvenile programs feature graduated levels of freedom with programs tailored to juveniles’ needs.

Doug Herrmann, the statewide juvenile division director for DOC, said that teens sent to DOC by judges are assessed to determine which program would work best.

Juvenile offenders can be sent to DOC programs at Star Academy in Custer, or they can be sent to private facilities throughout the state that specialize in treating addicts, sex offenders or mentally ill offenders, Herrmann said. A hybrid facility is the West Farm in Sioux Falls, a transitional program for boys run on a contract basis by Volunteers of America but owned by the state, he said.

Herrmann said that boys sent to DOC outnumber girls four to one and that average DOC placements have hovered near 1,100 per year since 1998.

Girls sent to Custer can go to QUEST, a six- to eight-month program for girls who have a longer offense history or a background of sexual abuse, or to EXCEL, a shorter life-skills program for girls with less severe problems. Both girls programs are licensed by the Department of Social Services, Herrmann said.

Boys at Custer are assigned to one of three programs: Youth Challenge Center for Boys, serving about 35 boys with more serious chemical dependency problems and mild mental health or behavior problems; Brady Academy, which has a boot camp and serves 60 to 75 boys with less chronic behavior and mental-health issues; and the Living Center, a transitional center for boys who have completed programs but can’t go back to their families or communities.

Teens not having a place to go after treatment is a problem plaguing both JSC and DOC.

Leveque said many of the juveniles at JSC are there because they have nowhere else to safely live. She emphasized that not all teens at JSC come from bad homes. “Some kids just make bad choices,” she said.

But on a recent visitation day for 36 juveniles, only 12 of them had visitors, and Leveque said she would like to see that ratio improved.

DOC runs a foster-care program for juveniles who have successfully completed programs but can’t return home for whatever reason. Herrmann said about 40 DOC teens are placed in 20 to 30 foster homes that are licensed by DSS.

The social history of boys and girls in confinement is often much harsher than that of the average teen.

Herrmann said about 75 percent of girls sent by courts to DOC report a history of sexual abuse. For boys, the rate is 30 to 50 percent. Alcohol and drug use in the teens’ homes is common, significant mental illness in DOC teens is not uncommon, and “about 70 percent of kids in the system are diagnosed chemically dependent,” he said.

The number of teens who are sex offenders is growing, even among girls, Herrmann said. Our Home, a private facility in Huron, specializes in treating sex offenders. “We keep it full,” Herrmann said.

But Leveque said that the source of juveniles’ problems cannot necessarily be tracked back to faulty parenting. A family with four children can see success with three of them but not with the fourth, she said.

Whether the problem stems from dynamics within the family or dynamics within the child is unknown, but at some point, the child must take responsibility for his or her own behavior, regardless of the source, Leveque said.

At both facilities, juveniles attend school, receive counseling and have access to spirituality if they want it. They go through training to restructure their thinking and control their anger. And if they are successful, they move from secure confinement, with bars and razor wire, to freedom that will eventually allow them to live in the community, where they will have unfettered access to fresh air and sunshine.

Contact Vicky Wicks at 394-8318 or vicky.wicks@rapidcityjournal.com