COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The state still hasn’t met its goal
of intensively treating Ohio’s most violent and disruptive youth,
according to a report on a state juvenile detention facility that found
much progress but also said staff shortages are hampering efforts to
deliver needed services to inmates.
The report filed with a
federal judge last week cited 15 "high priority" concerns at Scioto
Juvenile Correctional Facility north of Columbus that ranged from
reducing the frequency of short-staffing to recommending that a female
nurse practitioner be available to girls, many of whom are putting off
initial medical exams because they don’t want to be seen by a male
doctor.
The 257-page report said many of Scioto’s units are
short-staffed two to three times a week, the mental health issues of the
most disruptive youth aren’t being properly addressed, and some youth
are having their stays behind bars extended because of problems
providing them needed services.
The facility in Delaware County
houses the state’s reception center for juvenile offenders and its
medical center. It also houses the state’s approximately 25 female
juvenile inmates and about 90 boys of all security classifications,
including about two dozen deemed the hardest to control.
The
report was based on a visit and interviews by court-appointed monitors
to the facility in January, and is part of a review system stemming from
a 2004 lawsuit that alleged a culture of violence permeated the state’s
youth prisons.
A Department of Youth Services spokeswoman says concerns regarding youth are taken seriously and
addressed immediately.
"We’re
actively addressing our responses to the court but it’s premature to
discuss it at this time," said spokeswoman Kim Parsell.
The state
is down to four juvenile detention centers after closing or merging
several in the past decade to save money. Youth Services also houses
fewer than 700 inmates today, a third of what Ohio used to hold in
juvenile detention centers. The state has shifted the housing of many
juveniles to local communities to keep children closer to home and
improve chances for rehabilitation.
A report filed with U.S.
District Judge Algenon Marbley earlier this year as part of the review
system praised the state’s approach, saying it had produced impressive
results.
But this approach also means many of the remaining youth housed by the state are older, more violent and
needier.
Last
week’s report found the state has met many goals at Scioto, such as
staff training, assessing juveniles for treatment that will help them
most, and policies regarding when force is used.
But more must be
done to treat the worst offenders, starting with a mental health
approach that explores why they are disruptive, the report said.
"This
is the critical, and currently missing, step," the report said. "Only
with this clinical understanding of what is occurring, will it be
possible to come up with appropriate treatment interventions."
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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.