For Those In the Field

When was the last time you checked for tunnels leading to and from your facility? This may appear to be an extreme question to people in many industrialized nations, and it may well be. Yet, if I were still involved in the day-to-day security operations of a correctional facility, I would certainly be conducting security checks for tunnels, and here is why.

Throughout the world, from the Middle East to the Mexican Border, tunnels have become a method of moving contraband and people. Today’s tunnels span the gamut from crude and dangerous to highly sophisticated. Some tunnels have airflow systems, electricity, and they are large enough to operate a small motorized vehicle.

It is a safe bet that in certain areas within the United States and throughout the world there are offenders who have experience in constructing tunnels. However, there is a lack of understanding and experience in uncovering tunnels, I believe, among correctional personnel in many industrialized nations, to include the United States.

There are experts available to teach correctional personnel how to search for tunnels. These experts can be found in the U.S. military and in the United States Border Patrol. The U.S. Border Patrol has uncovered tunnels for many years and has been exposed to every type of tunnel imaginable.

Those of us in the field of criminal justice have to continue to keep adapting our tactics to the changing world around us. It is my belief that methods and techniques that are used in the Middle East, Europe, China, Africa, etc., by terrorists and criminals will eventually be used in the United States.

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admin Escapes from a facility

The holiday season in prisons and jails is a dangerous time. In this article we will take a look at the types of dangerous situations that come along with the holidays.

During the holiday season the offender population becomes antsy, angry, sad, and remorseful along with every other emotion one can think of…. even though correctional facilities and staff go above and beyond to make the holiday season as pleasant as possible for the offenders. Life is much different today than in the old days, when at Christmas the doors of the correctional facilities were ‘opened’ and some offenders were paroled.

Being incarcerated during the holiday season is difficult for everyone:

• The Staff
• The Offenders (Most especially first timers)
• The Offenders’ Immediate and Extended Families

While the holidays are supposed to be a joyous time as they are portrayed in movies and on television, the reality does not always mirror the fantasy. For some people, the holiday season is very difficult emotionally. This emotional turbulence affects not only offenders, but staff also. Too often we forget that staff are as vulnerable as offenders to the trials and tribulations of life.

Suggestions for staff members to help them get through the holidays:

• Take control of situations – Don’t let situations take control of you.
• Prioritize your life. What do you “HAVE” to do? Remember, work should take a high priority. If you go to work tired, with a hangover, or with non-work related things on your mind, you are risking your own well-being and that of your fellow employees and offenders.
• NEVER GO TO WORK IF YOU HAVE BEEN DRINKING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES! (NOT EVEN ONE)
• Let your family and friends know your work schedule and other time commitments, so that they will not pressure you into doing you into over-committing yourself.
• Get your rest!

Offender Issues

If you have worked corrections for any length of time, you know that the holiday season can be difficult. Offenders, who are normally compliant, become testy or even violent.

During the holiday season, security concerns become magnified because of the emotional behaviors of the offenders.

Security issues to be concerned about:

• Be on the lookout for suicide. Review the signs and symptoms of suicide. Talk to the offenders under your supervision. If you suspect that an offender “MAY” be suicidal, immediately get some help. It is better to be cautious than have a suicide on your watch.
• Be on the lookout for escape attempts. The holiday season triggers offenders to do senseless things, like trying to escape. “If I could have just spent Christmas Dinner with my kids.” (Offender caught during a Christmas morning escape attempt.)
• Insure that you are not complacent. Fighting complacency during the holiday season is a constant issue. Everyone (Staff) is busy with their own lives and the holiday season for civilians is usually a pleasant time. It is easy for staff to be complacent and let security procedures slide.
• Homemade Booze, Hooch, Pruno, etc., is always a problem in correctional facilities during the holiday season. Unfortunately, when Hooch is added to a correctional environment, normally docile offenders can become combative and/or suicidal. Administrators, Line Supervisors, and Staff should be conducting shake-downs in an effort to find the Hooch before it is consumed by the offenders.
• Be alert during and after visitation periods. Insure that the officers who are supervising the visiting area report any/all of the following incidents to the living area officer:
• Suspicious activity
• Strange behavior demonstrated by visitors or offenders
• Any emotional outburst by either visitors or offenders (Crying, arguing, threatening behavior, etc.)

Summary

The holiday season presents some intensified security concerns in correctional facilities. I have tried to outline the issues that I have encountered during my years in the field.

I want to emphasize the point that you should get sufficient rest during the holiday period. You should not go into work tired. Balancing life is especially difficult during the holiday season, but it is crucial that you try.

My experiences with security issues that have arisen during the holiday season have one thing in common – They were spontaneous. The 101st Airborne Division has the saying “Stay Alert – Stay Alive”!

Happy Holidays!

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admin Security Operations, Uncategorized

Since the writing of Part One of Hostage Negotiations and Terrorism, another “Terrorist-Hostage” incident has taken place. The Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan was attacked.

Six hours later, at least 21 people were dead, including the  nine suicide bombers who managed to penetrate several rings of security on Tuesday night to carry out the attack. The assault has shaken public confidence in the ability of  Afghan forces, especially the police, to assume responsibility for security, even here in the capital. [1]

I believe the above excerpt from the June 30, 2011, New York Times so vividly describes the terrorist attack on the Intercontinental Hotel that it can be used as a “teaching model”.  It encompasses issues that emergency management professionals should consider when designing a plan for Hostage Negotiations and Terrorism strategies.

Let us break down the incident into its elements and see what we can learn. Read more…

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Corrections.com received an email asking if there was a definitive training program on hostage negotiations. When contacted by the people at corrections.com, I was quick to answer yes, there are several good hostage negotiations training programs. My long time friend, Joe Marchese, has taught hostage negotiations for over 35 years and he is a person whom I consider to be an expert on the topic.

Post September 11,  2001, we were forced to re-think and re-tool most of our operational policies and procedures. I began to search the Internet looking for new hostage negotiations courses and/or hostage cases where terrorists took hostages.

Most of the materials I found were dated training materials. These courses included techniques for hostage negotiations that I taught when I was an academy instructor.

Most of the US government materials stressed the philosophy of “We do not negotiate with terrorists”, and “We do not release prisoners as part of negotiating with terrorists, etc., etc.”

Being the type of “Nitti / Gritty” person that I am, I was looking for specific procedural / operational recommendations. Again, all I found was that we do not negotiate with hostage takers and/or terrorists.

I took a break to watch a documentary Terror In Mumbai , an HBO Special. As I watched this documentary, I realized that corrections must take a step back and look at today’s current realities.

In reality there are terrorists in prisons all over the world, to include America. They have friends who want to break them out of prison, and the techniques that worked in the past perhaps, will not work now or in the future. Another reality is that if there is an incident at a prison, there is a good chance that there will be another incident going on somewhere else (in that facility) that will draw resources and create more confusion.

The possibility of correctional personnel and/or visitors being taken hostage has always existed and most correctional agencies are prepared to manage these traditional situations.

The reality today is that the hostage takers could be terrorists, not criminals. (I believe that there is a distinct difference between the two – Topic for another blog.) Terrorist-hostage takers have demonstrated over and over their readiness to kill their hostages as well as their own willingness to die for their cause. In the Beslan School Hostage Crisis (Russia), 344 civilians died during the incident. Some of the victims, who were children, were raped, tortured and murdered.

I believe that these factors alone require that criminal justice agencies across the nation establish different tactics and strategies for dealing with terrorist-hostage takers.

The question now is, how many local criminal justice agencies have even thought of preparing a plan to deal with terrorist-hostage takers?

A terrorist-hostage taking situation can happen in a correctional facility, school, police station, shopping mall, and/or hospital. It can happen in any sized community as it did in Beslan, Russia.

Being an old emergency planner and operations person, I thought about the differences that a terrorist/ hostage situation would  manifest. This is the list I developed:

• In the majority of cases, the terrorist -hostage takers are willing to die for their causes and/or beliefs.
• Many of the terrorist- hostage takers have received military training.
• Many terrorist-hostage takers have received training in bomb making using household products. Also, they have received training in how to make Improvised Explosive Devices (I.E.D.)
• Some terrorist-hostage takers believe that by killing the hostages and themselves, they will receive additional media coverage and be rewarded in the afterlife.
• Some of the terrorist-hostage takers have received training in (counter) negotiating techniques. (Be aware that the terrorist-hostage takers may be playing games and stalling for time.)
• Terrorist-hostage takers will stretch-out the situation as long as possible so that they can gain as much publicity as possible.
• Terrorist-hostage takers have been known to create multiple incidents so as to exhaust and confuse authorities.

Each of the above issues I believe have various degrees of separation from the traditional (criminal/prisoner) hostage taker. If one goes back and reviews traditional hostage situations, it is easy to see that there are certain similarities for traditional correctional hostage situations:

• Mentally ill inmate (s)
• Foiled escape
  • Living conditions
  • Healthcare
  • Inmate safety
  • Food
  • Abusive treatment by staff
  • Cleanliness of living areas, etc.

• In an effort to escape by taking a staff member (s) hostage.
• The traditional inmate (s) has no desire to die, unlike the terrorist-hostage takers.

Suggestions – Tactics to Consider

The following suggestions and points to consider have been developed from research that I have done. I have tried to examine terrorist-hostage incidents to determine what I would have done if I were in-charge.

> Contain the incident as quickly as possible.

> Determine if the hostage-takers have a terrorist background.

> As quickly as possible, have Special Response Team (s) respond to the incident with appropriate equipment and weapons.

> Immediately start to determine a plan for assaulting the terrorist-hostage takers. In other hostage situations, the terrorist-hostage takers have been know to kill or torture the hostage right at the beginning of the incident. (Correctional facilities, hospitals, malls, justice centers such as jails and courthouses, should have pre-arranged assault plans for every area of the facilities.)

> As quickly as possible, set-up video recording equipment, listening devices, etc., in an effort to gain as much “real life / real time” intelligence on what the terrorist-hostage takers are talking about, planning, and how they are treating the hostages.

> As quickly as possible, determine the primary and a secondary assault plan.

> Have at least two comprehensive escape plans in the event things go wrong.

> Be prepared for the unexpected. (Terrorist-hostage takers may have set booby traps or other
devices or employ techniques to injure, kill or
capture members of the assault team. Yes, they
would capture members of the assault team and
add them and their radios and other equipment to
the bounty.)

> Use a variety of technologies to observe the terrorist-hostage takers to determine:
> Their strength
> Their (Weapons being used)
> The number of hostages (Try to identify agency personnel)
> Their location (s)  (Be specific)
> Possible traps (Look for booby traps)
> Lighting (Use lighting as a weapon)
> Locked doors
> Their primary and secondary assault plans
> Their escape plan (s)

> The assault should include:
> Diversion (s)
> Speed
> A well trained team (s) carrying out the assault
> Appropriate weapons, less than lethal if necessary. Lethal weapons if justified.
> Lethal weapons (snipers etc.) give cover from external areas.

> Ancillary personnel assembly area (s) (Do not have all of the emergency personnel assembled in one spot, because then they become a target.)
> Fire service
> Ambulance (EMS)
> Hospital on alert for mass causalities
> Other law enforcement /correctional personnel

> Establish a security perimeter around the assembly area (s)

> The facility personnel should use all of its utility resources, such as HVAC, water, lighting, sound, toilets, to give it the edge and keep the terrorist hostage takers off guard and to disrupt their plans.

The possibility of terrorist-hostage takers in today’s world is very real. The purpose of this article is to have agencies think about how they would deal with hostage incidents where terrorists are the hostage takers.

In several of the incidents that I researched for this article, it became clear to me that terrorist-hostage takers are mentally, emotionally and psychologically prepared to kill the hostages. Knowing this in advance should alert agencies to have a rapid response plan.

Part Two of this of this article will address the following areas:
> External influences
> Perimeter
> Over response

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Can America Continue to Operate Its Prisons

 

A 1990’s Speech Comes True

In the 1990’s I was asked to give a speech at the Mid-Atlantic Correctional Association’s Annual Conference. For those of you who remember the late 1980’s and 1990’s, new prisons (jails) were being built all over the country. We were in the middle of the correctional industrial revolution.

As I prepared my speech, I began thinking about the high cost of building all of these new prisons (jails), not to mention how costly it was going to be to operate them.

Also, I was concerned about the way prisons were being used. The number of people with mental illnesses coming into the prisons (jails) was growing every year.

Politicians were looking at prisons (jails) as employment opportunities for their constituents without realizing the future costs. I really do not think they could have imagined the high cost of operating prisons (jails).

I believed then, (and we are experiencing it now) that he high costs associated with operating prisons (jails) would have such a negative affect on state budgets. The cost today associated with operating prisons (jails) is preventing the states from spending money on schools, roads, bridges, other infrastructure projects, university systems, etc.

California is by far the most publicized, but certainly not the only state having challenging problems paying for its correctional system. As with most state correctional systems, the California system is overcrowded with no real operational plan to resolve its overcrowding and other operational problems. Building new prisons is out of the question.

The nation’s correctional systems have for the past two plus decades seen a continuous flow of prisoners going in, and nothing more than a trickling stream of prisoners coming out. One must also mention the unbelievable recidivism rate of 70%.

The “3 Strikes and You Are Out Law”, “Rockefeller Drug Laws”, mandated sentencing, and numerous other laws that were once heralded as being tough on crime, I believe, are major contributing factors to the overcrowding of American prisons, and thereby increasing the operational costs.

Having the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” turned on the field of corrections.

The joke was on the system Strike One: The building of new prisons in the last century rather than examining and implementing ways to reduce crime.  Also, those involved in building these new prisons (jails) appeared not to comprehend that the building of these prisons was the only fixed cost, which was in the millions. They could not have understood that operational costs would continue to increase every year.

Strike Two: The enactment of the laws with no regard for what the cost of these laws would be to enforce and what would these laws would resolve.

Strike Three: Not having the foresight to understand that they could not build their way out of criminal/social/mental health /addiction problems that are part of society.

The Time Has Come To Act. The time has come to act. I believe that as a nation we have to initiate a “Think Tank” to start to answer the many questions confronting the field of corrections. This “Think Tank” should:

- Consist of experts from various fields of study: business, criminal justice, mental health, additions, medical, social and psychological, etc.

 State Departments of Corrections should conduct detailed analysis of the following:

• Look at what assets the department of corrections has now (buildings, programs, personnel, recidivism rates, etc.)
• Determine what is working and what is not working (This determination should be done using scientifically sound evaluation methods. There cannot be any sacred cows.)
• Reexamine the rationale of keeping people with moderate to severe mental health issues in prisons where they do not receive the care, compassion, life skills, or rehabilitation that they need. There are agencies than can confine and treat people with mental health issues better than most prisons (jails).
• Reexamine the way the nation treats drug addicts and alcoholics. Determine whether keeping them locked-up in high cost prisons (jails), with little to no programming for their problems, is the most efficient way of dealing with them. There are agencies than can confine and treat addicts and alcoholics better than most prisons (jails).
• Examine the concept of closing down out of date, energy inefficient prisons and constructing “temporary” energy efficient prisons. I say “temporary” because the ultimate goal is to reduce inmate populations nationwide.
• Examine how many inmates could be released to less expensive halfway houses, pre-release and/or rehabilitation centers, parole, or some new approach that has yet to be discovered, etc. Corrections continues to use methods and programs that do not work - have not worked for years. There are those who believe that these ineffective programs are better than nothing.
• Discontinue programs that are not achieving predetermined goals (Anyone who has worked in corrections for a few years knows that there are programs that just are not working and that the personnel and funding for the non-performing or underperforming programs could be put to a better use.)
• Reinstitute vocational training programs for inmates who demonstrate an aptitude and interest for such training. Some of the funding for these programs could come from programs that were eliminated
• Reinstitute educational classes for inmates who demonstrate an ability and interest.
• Carefully develop well designed, energy and operationally efficient prisons to replace the old inefficient prisons which are costing millions of dollars to operate and maintain.

(Architects in the past have designed the prison (jail) versions of the Taj Mahal, thereby driving up costs of   new prison projects. During the boom, architects were hired to design prisons (jails) that have had zero experience in designing prisons). I remember interviewing an architectural firm who said to me, “we have built dozens of motels what is the difference?”

I have articulated the above observations, comments and suggestions as a means of starting a dialogue before the time comes when states can no longer afford to keep offenders in prisons (jails) and are forced to release them.

The nation’s recidivism rate is around 70%, so obviously the nation’s prison systems are broken, yet the states continue to pump millions of dollars into them. One has to ask, what if a significant portion of the money spent to build new prisons (jails) was spent to develop more efficient and productive correctional systems?

If the real truth were known, the majority of  America’s prisons (jails) are nothing more than warehouses for criminals. An extremely dangerous sub-culture has developed over the years. This subculture consists of gangs, violent young offenders many of whom have been groomed in juvenile corrections and on the streets. There are also older seasoned offenders who orchestrate criminal initiatives and other nefarious activities.   

While amazing people, including administrators and staff, work to maintain order and keep the lid on, the time is quickly approaching when all the negatives reach a critical mass. Overcrowding, staff to inmate ratio, lack of offender programming, deteriorating prisons (jails), and lack of funding will meet and create a perfect storm.

The solutions to the problems facing corrections will not be easy nor will the answers to the multitude of questions that will bombard those brave enough and thoughtful enough to work on them. We arrived here, I believe, because rather than confront the real issues facing the field of corrections back in the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s, we took the path of least resistance and built more prisons, hired more correctional officers and other staff, and passed more senseless laws without giving any thought to the long range implications of these solutions of least resistance.

I know that much of what I have written in this article will be disputed and corrected by those who are entrenched in the various systems, or who have some financial interest in the current way corrections is being done. I, however, stand by what I have written and believe it to be correct. The time will come when the cost of operating prisons will become so overwhelming that that states’ will have to release prisoners.

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billsturgeon Uncategorized Operational cost of operating prisons and jails, Perfect Storm, Poor offender programming, Staff to inmate ratio, Subculture prison gangs, Terrorist /Prisoner, violent youthful offenders

The title of this article is self-explanatory. Of course tight budgets will influence the operations of criminal justice agencies. The more important questions are these. How severely will the operations be influenced and for how long?

 

Throughout my many years in the field of criminal justice, I have lived through many instances of tight budgets. In the old days we survived these budgets cuts by tweaking this and that, not filling vacant positions (hiring freeze), shutting off lights, taking every other fluorescent light bulb out, and canceling all travel, etc.

 

My concern now is that governmental bodies are in reality running out of cash to operate criminal justice agencies, especially correctional facilities. While there is a great deal of rhetoric by our politicians at every level of government, as of the writing of this article, nothing substantive has been presented to solve the nation’s (world’s) economic problems.

The differences between the budget crises that I experienced and today’s budget crises are these:

 

Ø The duration of this budget crisis promises to be far longer than any of those I experienced.

 

Ø Additionally, when the economy does start to come back, criminal justice operations, especially corrections, will be the last to enjoy it.

 

Ø There will be the loss and/or serious reduction of federal and state grants.

 

Ø Not being prepared could prove to be disastrous.

Read more…

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billsturgeon Uncategorized Budget Cuts & Operations, Loss or reduction of federal and/or state grants, Reduction in staff

Is Your Mailroom Your Achilles Heal

Learning from Others

Once again other people’s misfortunes can help us get prepared for another possible emergency situation (s). United State Postal Offices have experienced flammable packages being sent through the USPS to governmental officials. In all of these instances, the facilities had to be evacuated and some employees were slightly injured.

What can anyone operating any type of a criminal justice facility learn from these events? I have put together checklist to help CJ facilities prepare for similar events or events that could be even more serious.

Read more…

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billsturgeon Uncategorized

Cyber Attack

Did You Hear the Wakeup Call

Over the past week hackers brought down numerous web sites to include MasterCard. The reason for these attacks was the arrest of Julian Assange in England, he is the purported head person of WikiLeaks, a web site that has leaked millions of pages of military and United States State Department secrets. He was not arrested for leaking classified information, but for rape charges lodged against him in Sweden.

In support of Mr. Assange, “an anonymous group of ‘hacktivists’, which is behind what it calls “Operation Payback”, claimed on Twitter that it was responsible for disrupting the credit card group’s (MasterCard’s) website.” [1]

Of course, I immediately thought of how secure are the United Kingdom’s web sites, especially those associated with Her Majesty’s Prison Service. If this group of “hacktivists” can disrupt, shutdown, and/or interrupt a sophisticated web site like MasterCard, one must be concerned about their governmental web site. I have some familiarity with HMPS and it is a very professional group of people. Yet with all of the new technology being developed and/or adapted, it is difficult for governmental agencies worldwide to keep up with the ever-evolving trends.

Read more…

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billsturgeon Uncategorized Correctional Cyber Alert, Cyber Attack, Security of Correctional Computer System, Security Operations

As the Holiday Season approaches, it is once again time to get ready for what can be the most challenging time for correctional facilities. It is challenging because the offenders are away from home during the Holiday Season, emotions run high, and at times logic is not present. How the facility is managed throughout this period of the year is crucial.

Positive /Proactive management will help diminish the Holiday doldrums experienced by the offenders and some staff. What does Positive/Proactive management mean? It means putting in place programmatic activities so that offenders may experience, as much as possible; a positive way of celebrating the holidays while not sacrificing the security of the facility

Holiday Season Programmatic Activities

Ø Establish a list of items that could be given to the offender population as gifts.

Ø Solicit from volunteer groups Holiday Cards for the offenders to send to their loved ones (to include postage). I have found that the religious groups are very willing to donate cards to the offenders.

Ø Have specialized programming during the Holiday Season for the offenders.

-         Invite Civilian Choral Groups to come into the facility to perform.

-         Develop an Offender Choral Group and/or Band that can perform for other offenders.

-         Establish Special visitation hours throughout the Holiday Season, etc.

Ø Remind staff to be on the watch for offenders exhibiting the signs and symptoms of suicide.

Ø Remind staff to be on the watch for other staff members who may be having difficulties getting through the Holiday Season.

Ø Remind staff that offenders may be more reactive (violent) than normal – Nerves on edge.

Holiday Season Security Activities

Ø Conduct numerous targeted shakedowns

Ø Conduct a mini- security audit of the entire facility, paying special attention to the following areas:

¨ Kitchen

¨ Industrial Area (Shops)

¨ Offender Living Areas

Ø Remind staff to use all their senses of sight, hearing (listening), smell.

Ø Insist on strict accountability of all materials that can be used to make (hooch, pruno) jailhouse booze.  

Ø Carefully observe of the offender population.

¨ Gang activities increase (Introduction of contraband –drugs, alcohol, cell phones, debt collections/assaults, etc.)

¨ The older offender population remain in their cells if they believe that there is going to be trouble.

Ø Strict enforcement of contraband policies and procedures is essential

¨ Start random pat down searches

¨ Thoroughly search  all incoming packages

 

¨ Use drug sniffing dogs

o   In offender living areas

o   In the visitor reception area

o   In the kitchen

o   In the shops

o   In common areas

o   In the outside recreation yards

Ø There should be enhanced perimeter security and increased outside patrol activities

¨ Have security officers and drug dogs search all outside areas prior to the offenders having access to them.

¨ Increase Outside Patrol Activities

o   Check perimeter fencing for materials stuck in fences

o   Check perimeter fencing for cuts in the materials

o   Insure that patrols are not routine – In fact, have the outside patrol become erratic so that no one will ever be able to determine where and when the patrol will be in one place.

o   Add additional patrols periodically

Ø Strictly enforce all disciplinary rules. Take the “bad actors” off the street if they are acting out.

 

One last caution! Carefully observe offenders after telephone calls and/or visits. I have experienced situations when offenders “went off” or became “seriously depressed” after having a troublesome telephone call or visits. 

 

The Holiday Season has always been a challenging time for correctional facilities. Understanding that this season can be difficult, it is incumbent for correctional administrators and staff to take steps to prevent, if possible, or mitigate any issues that may arise. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

 

Now I have to sign off and think of ways to avoid putting up the Christmas decorations.

 

 Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Seasons Greetings

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billsturgeon Uncategorized Correctional Staff, Holiday Season, security, Suicide Prevention, Terrorist /Prisoner

This article may cause discomfort or perhaps even anger among some people in the Juvenile Justice Community.  Let me start by saying, I believe that the current American Juvenile Justice System is outdated.  In my opinion, many of the Juvenile Justice Systems are still employing social work principles and treatment methodologies of the 1960’s, 1970’s, and the 1980’s. - in short, the Father Flanagan (Founder of Boy’s Town) philosophy: “There’s no such thing as a bad boy” [1], when in reality there are some really bad boys and girls.

The incorrigible juveniles, runaways, habitual truants, etc., that composed the juvenile delinquent population of the past are not the offenders filling juvenile institutions today. Many of today’s juvenile offenders have committed violent crimes and require a different type of incarceration that includes intensive (personalized) treatment and educational programs.  As a society, we cannot continue to turn a blind eye on these out of control juveniles.

I grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s and I knew some boys who were sent to reform school for excessive truancy, car theft, and petty theft. Today, these crimes would not even get a second look by most criminal justice agencies. As a police sergeant in the 1970’s, I worked extensively with juveniles. Then in the mid-1990’s, I once again had the opportunity to work with juveniles who had been adjudicated as adults and sentenced to adult prisons. It was working with the sad and difficult youthful offenders’ population that I came to the realization that the current Juvenile Justice System was missing its mark. I spent hours interviewing and just talking with these youthful offenders, listening to their stories of how they could manipulate the juvenile system, the school system, and their parents (if the parents even played any role in their lives).

What I believe is needed for the Juvenile Justice System is a comprehensive overhaul where those juveniles who are convicted of minor offences and are under a certain age can receive the care that they need in a juvenile facility. Additionally, I believe that there needs to be another stage, a hybrid youthful offender/adult correctional system that would concentrate on the needs of youthful offenders. Youth offenders are persons between the ages of thirteen and nineteen who have committed serious crimes. This hybrid correctional system, using data (good and bad) that has been collected from youthful offender programs in adult facilities,  and high security juvenile facilities, would be created as an entirely new correctional environment, to include programming where these violent youthful offenders could be incarcerated.

In cases that involve this juvenile population, the criminal justice system has one and perhaps two chances to help these juveniles get their lives straightened out. If the Criminal Justice System fails, many of these juveniles will follow a path of crime doing life (in jails and prisons) on the installment plan (2 years here, 5 years there, etc.).

To develop this hybrid youthful offender correctional system, there will need to be a basic change in the way society, especially in the criminal justice system, views juveniles who commit serious crimes. Since its inception the juvenile court has metered out “justice” while adhering to the parens patriae philosophy (A doctrine that grants the inherent power and authority of the state to protect persons who are legally unable to act on their own behalf.)[2]

Some basic changes that I would recommend when dealing with this population are:

- The title for offenders twelve years of age or under would be juveniles.

- The title for offenders thirteen to nineteen would be youthful offenders.

- There should be Extensive “Baseline Testing” upon entry into the CJ formal system. What I mean by “Baseline Testing” is the development of a comprehensive understanding of the offender. The “Baseline Testing” package should include; cognitive, psychosocial, extensive physical, dental, and emotional. It is my deep seeded belief that with this comprehensive testing the CJ system would have a complete picture of the offender and his/her needs. If this testing is not conducted, I believe, we are just throwing good money away. Too often the criminal justice system uses the shotgun approach to treatment; they put everyone through the same programs, rather than tailoring the programs to the needs of the offenders. Yes, it is expensive, but so is having the same people come back to prison over and over.

There are those who will disagree with this approach to re-tooling the Juvenile Justice System to meet the needs of today’s youth. I believe that my approach is worth a serious try. There should be an evaluation tool built into the program that measures the success of each element of the program.

Some additional thoughts for a youthful offender program are:

- Develop “highly structured” programs where initially the offender(s) day is highly structured.  As the offenders progress through the program, the structure begins to be taken away.

- Integrate educational programs (academic, technical, and vocational) into the youthful offender program; this is crucial. Rules of the school must be strictly enforced and offenders can receive official write-ups for both academic and behavior issues.

- Develop a comprehensive reentry program that is highly structured. The re-entry program must have all of the necessary elements in place and be operational prior to the youthful offenders’ release. One of the elements that should be part of a reentry program is the ability for offenders to call back to the institution and speak to institutional personnel with whom they had worked when they were incarcerated. Most correctional agencies have policies and procedures about communicating with offenders after they have left the institution, so there would have to be some new policies and procedures clearly outlining how the staff would conduct themselves when dealing with youthful offenders who have been released. (My rationale for recommending this post incarceration communication is because the institutional personnel build relationships with these youthful offenders and can give them guidance even after their release.)

- When appropriate, youthful offenders should be permitted to live on their own. There are some people who think I have lost my mind by suggesting that youthful offenders be permitted to live apart from their parents, etc. Well, I am a realist and in various cases the offender’s parents are part of their problem (the parents are addicts, violent and abusive, and/or involved in criminal activities). The offenders’ parole officers could conduct unannounced checks on them to insure that they are following the rules.

- Provide specialized training for all staff who will be working with youthful offenders. The areas that I believe must be part of this specialized training are:

·         Adolescent Development

·         Conflict Resolution

·         Goal setting

·         Tattoo removal program

·         Anti-gang programs

The time to make the changes in the Juvenile Justice System is now. Most of the current state systems are struggling to keep their heads above water. They (the states) continue to fall further and further behind in treating, rehabilitating, or punishing violent juvenile offenders. I have given up looking at statistics because I no longer believe them. News, web sites, and common sense tell us that street gangs are growing larger and spreading into suburban and rural communities.

As an example: according to the WIKI research web site, “16-24 for males however it is only an average as they are at their peak strength at this age.” [3] People who work with street gangs report that the street gangs are recruiting younger or junior members to their gangs. They do this to take advantage of the Juvenile Justice System and the way it treats juvenile offenders.  

Society has the right to be safe from violent youth. The Juvenile Justice System should not be a swinging  door where offenders released are  no better, perhaps worse, than when they were incarcerated. States have to stop trying to conduct youthful offenders rehabilitation on the “cheap”. This new Youthful Offender Program that I am proposing will not be cheap to initiate and operate. What must be considered is what is being spent on incarcerating adults and juveniles today; furthermore, there must be evaluation methodologies in place prior to initiating this new Youthful Offender Program.

It has been over 100 years since the Juvenile Justice System has had an intensive comprehensive up-dating. Recently there was a news article that reported that girls are reaching puberty at an earlier age.  “New research adds further evidence that girls are entering puberty at younger and younger ages, with implications for their physical and mental health. By 8-years-old, more than 1-in-10 girls have already begun developing breasts, which marks the technical start of puberty for girls, according to a new study published Monday in the Journal of Pediatrics. [4] The street gangs are recruiting younger or “junior” members to gangs. They do this to take advantage of the Juvenile Justice System because it is more lenient in the way it treats juvenile offenders.

I truly believe that an updating of the Juvenile Justice System is necessary. Furthermore, I believe that Juvenile Justice Systems need to incorporate a Youthful Offender Program in their incarceration and treatment model. The kids of today are sophisticated when it comes to “street smarts”. The Juvenile Justice Systems must adapt to the changes in society.

 

 

1.       http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume12/issue1/features/?id=301

2.       http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Parens+Patriae

3.        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_age_group_is_most_likely_to_commit_a_crime

4.       http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748704268004575417442626829952.html

 

 

 

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billsturgeon Uncategorized Outdated Juvenile Justice Systems, Street Gangs, Youthful Offenders