COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s youth prisons have much higher assault rates than the adult lockups, a
newspaper reported Sunday.
Juvenile
prisons had more than 1,600 assaults in 2011, with an overall
population of only 680 youths. The adult population of more than 50,000
inmates had nearly 2,500 assaults.
Assaults include striking another person, throwing at and hitting them with an object, and spitting at or
biting.
The Columbus Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/Z098WE )
that some Department of Youth Services staffers say there isn’t
enough discipline in the youth prisons and that conditions are dangerous
for both the teens and the prison staff.
"We have to go in every
day wondering if it’s going to be safe for us," said Jonathan Blackford,
35, who is a corrections officer at the Circleville Juvenile
Correctional Facility.
A corrections officer at the Scioto
Juvenile Correctional Facility was hospitalized in September after three
inmates charged into her office and beat her.
The four Ohio youth prisons include the state’s most violent juvenile offenders, and also some young
people with mental issues.
"Youth receive consequences for inappropriate behavior," said Harvey Reed, director of youth
services department.
The
state spends much more on youth inmates than adults; some $161,497
annually per youth compared to $24,871 on adults, The Dispatch reported.
The focus is on rehabilitation and preparation for a productive adult
life.
"We want them to go out of the door better than they came in
the front door," Reed said. "We want (staff) to go home and be excited
about what they did and how kids change."
Reed said his
administration is addressing staff concerns that young inmates are
aggressive because they have little to fear in terms of punishment.
"We’ve
strived to make our facilities safer with (a special program) for
use-of-force incidents and holding youth accountable for their behavior,
using graduated sanctions that include ‘intervention hearings,’ " Reed
said.
In 2008, the state reached agreements in two lawsuits alleging unconstitutional treatment of youth in
Ohio prisons.
A
monitor’s report this month said gangs, sexual misconduct and poorly
performing teachers have been problems in some facilities. But monitor
Will Harrell praised "hard work" by the Department of Youth Services for
improvements.
"In some areas, like reducing the youth population
in secure confinement and regionalizing services, Ohio has truly become a
model to the nation," he wrote.
The president of the Juvenile
Justice Coalition said the Ohio youth facilities have increased
availability of mental health services for the youths.
"They’ve
gotten qualified staff," said F. Edward Sparks, of the group that
promotes community-based alternatives to incarceration.
The state
also has dramatically reduced the prison population for juveniles. It
has dropped from nearly 2,000 in 2007, when the state operated seven
youth prisons.
There is priority put on placing juvenile offenders
in community programs, sending them to prison only as a last resort.
But the prison reduction also left the most-violent offenders in only
four prisons.
"We received the worst-possible juveniles in the
state, and that’s what caused an increase in violence," said Karl
Wilkins, a youth specialist at the Scioto juvenile prison. He said it
received inmates from a facility in Franklin Furnace, Ohio, that was
closed in 2011.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.