Navajo County is due to reopen its juvenile detention center shortly, bringing home troubled teenagers who have been detained in other counties.
A sharp increase in the cost of the existing contract with Pinal County from $ 175 per day to $ 350 per day sparked the decision. Navajo County Juvenile Justice Services, however, hope to offer new programs to minimize the need to place teenagers in expensive, prison-like facilities.
The move goes hand in hand with other ambitious changes in Navajo County’s way of treating people who commit crimes – including people with mental illness. District Attorney Brad Carlyon and Sheriff David Clouse have launched several initiatives to reduce incarceration rates and improve community treatment and alternative sentencing options.
“We want to use modern methods and philosophy to help children and get great results. We have made a few changes over the past three years. The goal has not changed with the criminal justice system in general – the goal has always been to protect the community, ”Jason Cash told the board of directors about the upcoming change.
Navajo County decided in 2017 to transfer the juvenile offenders charged with serious crimes to Pinal County for $ 175 a day. The move came amid a budget crisis that left the county’s 16-bed facility in Holbrook normally only half full. The county hoped to save $ 800,000 annually and cut 16 full-time and seven part-time jobs.
However, the county is now planning to bring the teens home – also because it could potentially save money compared to paying $ 350 a day to have them locked up elsewhere.
Continuing the contract would cost the county approximately $ 1.3 million annually, an increase of nearly $ 500,000 from the 2020 fiscal year budget. However, returning most of the youth to a reopened youth facility in Holbrook would add only $ 150,000 to costs this year. The county would pay about $ 700,000 for youth occupation but would still have a $ 250,000 contract with Coconino County to deal with youths who could not be safely held in the reopened facility, or for teenagers that exceed the limit of eight beds. The plan also includes a cost of $ 35,000 to start up the facility.
The move is overshadowed by numerous studies showing that incarcerating teenagers who have committed crimes often only increases the likelihood of them ending up in jail as adults compared to community-based alternatives.
The shift to community treatment options is mainly focused on adolescents committing crimes that would not be a crime for adults, as well as vandalism, theft and drug offenses.
The new approach would provide things like therapy for adolescents and families, after-school life skills development programs, a crisis center for temporary placement, intensive home family counseling, and temporary placement for children whose problems revolve around family patterns or are neglected.
“Before 2018 we had parole, we had prison and education – everything worked together,” said Cash. “But that’s really all we had. We didn’t have any programming that really dealt with criminogenic behavior. If teens had typical teenage crimes – sneaking away, drugs, and alcohol – we locked them up. However, we haven’t addressed the root cause of the behavior. We used a temporary solution and increased the likelihood that they would be offended again in the future, ”said Cash.
Instead of locking children up and hoping that they will teach them a lesson and change their behavior, the new approach will rely on family and individual counseling and other interventions.
“What drives these behaviors? All research shows that once you identify these criminogenic risks, once you have identified these criminogenic risks, you need to look at the entire ecology of the adolescent – you start counseling, counseling with family, and keeping them in school. Try to surround them with pro-social activities. Include them in health activities. “
The district hopes to be able to operate only one “capsule” with eight beds in the internment camp in order to minimize personnel costs. Only teenagers who pose a threat to themselves or others will be reopened – with services offered to convert them to community-based attitudes as soon as possible.
“We believe we can keep our detention population below eight fairly easily,” said Cash.
“We want to become a licensed behavior change provider,” he added, in line with an overall effort to provide comprehensive mental health addiction treatment and other services for adults as well. “
He noted that the county is currently recruiting. “To reopen the detention center, we just need to hire staff and complete all of the training and certification of the staff. All setup preparation is complete. We did the tour. It’s in pretty good shape. “
Judge Michala Ruechel supported the change. “I am very happy about the reopening. Our children need to be near our homes. When they get home, they need all-round service. It is very difficult to achieve this for teenagers hundreds of miles away. We come back with something better than us. We can keep our costs local. We can employ local staff and have people in the system who are dedicated to our children. “
Supervisor Dawnafe Whitesinger welcomed the proposal. “Families will be able to visit their children. I appreciate that and also see how we offer services differently and get the extra support they need. I appreciate the thought process that was put into this process. “
The reopening of the juvenile detention center and the development of counseling facilities and community treatment complement efforts in adulthood.
Carlyon launched a number of initiatives last year after concluding that incarcerating people with mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction had proven costly and ineffective. The county has worked on developing a number of addiction and mental health services for which the county can often bill AHCCCS, health plans, or Medicare.
This includes signing contracts with some mental illness treatment programs to send a mental health crisis team to take in people who are causing a disorder due to their mental health problems, rather than having a substitute handcuffed person in crisis and putting them in Bring District Jail.
To study the effects of juvenile detention:
Research has shown that detaining youngsters does not reduce relapse, according to an analysis by the PEW Charitable Trust. Here is a summary of some of those studies.
An attempt to combine the results of several peer-reviewed studies concluded that prison placement does not reduce the likelihood of re-offending against juveniles, and in some cases can increase it
A study of serious juvenile offenders in Maricopa County and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania found that interns were no better off than probation officers in terms of relapse. The study considered 66 different factors to ensure that teenagers in prison and on parole were comparable. The jailed low-ranking offenders were significantly more likely to be insulted again than similar adolescents who were placed on parole.
A Texas study found that teens in community-based treatment, activity, and surveillance programs had lower backrest rates than incarcerated teens with similar criminal histories and demographics.
A study from Cook County, Illinois found that incarcerated teenagers were more likely to drop out of high school and incarcerated as adults than non-incarcerated juvenile offenders. This study also considered a number of features to ensure the adolescents were comparable before evaluating the results.
Peter Aleshire covers county government and other issues for the Independent. He is the former editor of the Payson Roundup. Reach out to him at [email protected]
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