They may commit adult crimes, but serious juvenile offenders are not your typical adult inmate and there's no consensus on how they should be handled in the corrections environment.

Juvenile rights advocates want juvenile offenders to be housed separately from adults -- no matter their offense - from the get-go. But depending on the state and the county, a juvenile could share a cell with an adult for something as mild as stealing a bicycle.

Some say that this lack of consistency - and ultimately a lack of leadership on this issue -- will cause big problems down the road.

"I think there should be a ban on jailing kids with adults and I don't see that happening yet. It's one of those areas where [corrections says] we run the hotel and you tell us how many guests to put in it. But this is an area where the corrections field should take some strong positions," said Vincent Schiraldi, Executive Director of the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based research and public policy organization focusing on criminal justice issues.

Concerns about a juvenile's vulnerability around adult offenders, including the possibility of being sexually abused, are high among the reasons child advocates tout for having separate facilities for pre-trial and sentenced youthful offenders.

"The odd thing is less seems to have been done at the pre-trial stage than after adjudication," Schiraldi said.

He reasons that ultimately few serious youthful offenders even end up receiving sentences to adult prisons so why, then, should they be housed with adults pre-trial.

"We are giving them adult contacts [and] we get a negative impact. It's a bad piece of public policy," he added.

Some adult jurisdictions, including many jails, have come to the realization that it is no picnic housing juveniles in these facilities and some have pushed for legislation to have them held elsewhere. Still others in state corrections have decided that youthful offenders with adult charges need their own facilities. And, although this movement is not across the board, there are some changes being made.

Officials in Prince George's County, Maryland are among this group.

Starting from Scratch in Prince George's County

Prince George's County officials put some thought into creating a program for juveniles just in the nick of time - right before the American Civil Liberties Union contacted them to suggest that they provide some type of services to the juveniles they were housing in their adult detention facility.

At that point - in 1999 - Barry Stanton, Director of the county's Department of Corrections, was already in the process of creating a task force to examine various programs around the country and bring back some ideas about how to address the needs of the juvenile offenders in the jail.  Prior to Stanton's efforts, there were basically no services for the young male and female offenders who typically spend between six and eight months in the Prince George's County Correctional Center.

"I told [the ACLU] 'Give me a year.  You can come back in a year and I will promise you that we will have a program up and running,'" said Stanton.

When the rights' activists returned in 2000, they were amazed by the county's progress, Stanton said.  In a year's time, he had created a program that targets juveniles' healthcare, nutritional, rehabilitative and educational needs.

Prince George's County task force members had traveled to adult jails that housed juveniles in Washington State, Pennsylvania and Florida to garner information about the kinds of services that best suited this population.

"[I told the task force], 'Don't worry about cost.  Don't worry about staffing.  Just tell me what is the best program we can do based on the information you got,'" Stanton said.  "And that's what we did."

Stanton started to build a program by improving healthcare services for the juveniles.

"I think it's very important that you provide appropriate healthcare assessments, including mental health," he said.  "[Since] you are dealing with juveniles, you have to pay closer attention to their physical needs and their mental health needs."

After bringing a contractor on board to handle the medical evaluations and mental health assessments, Stanton set his sights on creating some type of educational programming for these offenders, which proved to be a more difficult task than tweaking healthcare procedures.

"The educational piece was a little tougher because we didn't have any teachers," said Stanton, who spent two years working with the Prince George's County school system to get them to provide teachers for the juveniles at the jail.

While it took some time for the educational portion of the program to come together, Stanton was able to implement new nutritional guidelines immediately.

"What I did was I went to the state school board and said 'How can we be part of a breakfast and lunch program?" Stanton said.

Once he obtained the criteria for meals from the school board, he said it was easy to adjust the juveniles' food servings to meet the system's caloric requirement.  But, Stanton even went a step beyond conforming to public school standards; he also tried to cut down on the juveniles' sugar intake.

"Based on research, I felt it was important to reduce sugar and candy in the commissary," Stanton said.  "What I found is sweets were making the juveniles a little more aggressive."

Beyond a change in nutritional requirements and the addition of educational classes for the juveniles, Stanton also added other programs to help them rehabilitate, like religion, anger management, substance abuse and self-awareness programs.

But one of the most important aspects of the program was the creation of a juvenile coordinator position to ensure that all of these services were running smoothly.

"Getting a staff person was big," Stanton said.  "I felt it was very important to the success of the program."

Another vital element that contributed to the program's success was developing training for existing staff members, who often viewed the juveniles as troublesome and disrespectful.

"[The corrections officers] didn't want to do anything special with [the juveniles] because they were violent and disruptive," Stanton said. 

To help staff overcome their issues with the juveniles, Stanton trained officers to work with this offender population and kept the same staff members assigned to the juvenile unit.

"It worked out pretty well," Stanton said.  "It improved discipline.  It improved control.  It improved respect," he added.  "The corrections officers running the unit really felt like they were really their mothers and their fathers.

The staff training, combined with the other elements of the program, paid off, said Stanton, noting that violent incidents involving the juveniles are down 35-40 percent and there have been no assaults on corrections officers by juveniles in the last three years. 

"[The program] has helped with [a] reduction in the number of juveniles coming back [and] it has helped with their educational level.  Some of the juveniles are being released and going back to high school.  It has helped with their discipline and self-awareness.  They're not as angry or as violent as they were when they entered," Stanton said.  "Their level of respect has changed."

Corrections officials at the state level have also made changes in how they manage youthful offenders in adult facilities - and are seeing positive results.

Wisconsin's Youth Prison

With the legal age of adulthood set at 17 in Wisconsin and a rise in serious, violent crimes being committed by this population, state officials determined that a separate facility and program would be the best management option.

So, back in 1998, the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional facility opened with 400 beds.

According to Warden Dan Buchler, the medium-security facility is the only one in the adult state system where the population cannot exceed the approved number of beds and the age limit is capped - now at 24.

Until recently that age cap ended at age 21, which was welcomed by some offenders and worried others.

"Some of our guys are much more vulnerable and it's interesting talking to these guys about being here. When we turned from 21 to 24, a good number were upset. Some said [they were] looking forward to transferring to an easier place. But other ones said they were happy to stay here longer. [They like] the individual attention, the programs and they appreciate the safety factor; many were afraid to go to the other [facilities]," said Buchler.

As warden, Buchler understands the differences in need between this youthful population and an adult one, and the programs available to the offenders reflect that. Education programs in particular drive the offenders' activities.

"We have a tremendous amount of programs, but most revolve around our education efforts. The majority don't have a high school diploma or GED. At any one time we have 300 to 350 in educational programming. Then, in addition they are in work or in other  part-time programs," he said.

The offenders' lives are highly structured, said Buchler, and there isn't much idle time.

"We run this place much tighter than other medium facilities. In other places, if you are not in a work program, you can come out into the day room. [Here] we have scheduled day room times," Buchler said. "We are supervising a lot closer."

He added that officers understand that this population needs more guidance and supervision - from work assignments to the recreation yard.

Beyond supervision, Buchler also emphasizes to staff the behavior differences they will encounter with the youthful offender population.

He said there are more conduct reports and examples of immature behavior with a group of this age, which requires some understanding on the part of those who supervise them.

"We have to remember that although we are following the adult code, we are dealing with adolescent behavior. I sometimes remind staff of the problems we were having at that age. I ask them to understand where it is coming from and that they are still growing up," he said.

Buchler said custody staff are trained regularly to enhance their communication skills with the youthful offender population and are encouraged to try new approaches to make a difference with them and promote positive relationships.

In addition, the programming staff are convinced that the more intensive programs geared toward this population make a difference in the end.

"They are convinced we are making a greater impact. There's more to work with here. I have found it to be exciting to work here," he added.

Buchler said that the offenders and the staff both understand that the primary mission of the institution is to promote public safety, but all understand that in the context of youthful offenders, there needs to be a different twist to accomplishing this goal.

And this, many believe is key to helping young offenders who have committed adult crimes turn their lives around.

"Our primary mission is to protect the public. One way to do t hat is [by] keeping them in, but it's also [by] providing meaningful programs so that when they get out there are no more victims. All of our guys are coming back to the streets," Buchler said.

Resources:

To reach the Justice Policy Institute, or for more information, visit the website at http://www.justicepolicy.org/

To reach Barry Stanton of Price George's County, call (301) 952-7015

To reach Dan Buchler at Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility, call (262)638-1999