CAUTIONARY TALE
Prison for troubled girls has
woes of its own
A former supervisor at the Florida Institute for
Girls says she quit in frustration because the for-profit company
that manages the program repeatedly put its bottom line ahead of the
girls' needs.
Martha Hargrave, the prison's former senior treatment coordinator,
said she told leaders there for a year that workers were overwhelmed
by the problems of difficult and sometimes suicidal girls arrested
for serious crimes.
She believed the company, which runs the maximum-security juvenile
lockup under contract with the state, stuck with less-qualified and
inexperienced staff to save money on salaries.
I kept listening to all the profit-margin talk, and I was just
sickened, Hargrave said Friday. It seemed like all they are
interested in doing is saving pennies.
State monitors recently agreed that the youth
prison's therapy program isn't working. The private company,
Lighthouse Care Centers LLC, will have to hire more master's-level
therapists or lose its five-year, $21 million state contract to run
the center in suburban West Palm Beach, officials said.
Facility leaders say they have hired seven of the eight therapists
and five of seven case managers they need to meet state
requirements.
Though the state has praised the prison's improvement in other
areas, it will send a formal letter this week giving the company a
deadline to fix shortcomings in its mental health program.
Lighthouse President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Schneider said
the company will continue to make improvements and hire more
therapists with advanced degrees.
But to say the company makes decisions based on profit is unfair and
untrue, Schneider said. Lighthouse is working hard to recruit
experienced therapists, he said. But high costs of living in South
Florida, a shortage of licensed therapists and intense media
attention on the lockup have made it more difficult to find and keep
good people, he said.
The company does have to keep an eye on the
budget, he said, and the state's requirement of more qualified staff
will cost an additional $175,000 a year. The company is struggling
to break even at the prison, he said, but is willing to take a small
loss this year to improve services for the girls. He expects
Lighthouse to lose about $100,000 on its contract this year.
We've been losing money hand over fist since the day we took over
the operation, Schneider said. We are a for-profit organization,
and we are trying to get a handle on that.... At the very worst, we
don't want to lose money.
Lighthouse Care Centers took over the prison in May 2004, after a
Palm Beach County grand jury criticized the previous contractor,
Premier Behavioral Solutions, for allowing abuses at the juvenile
lockup. Four girls' arms were broken in violent restraints, and a
staff member was convicted of having sex with two girls in a
bathroom.
Grand jurors said Premier Behavioral Solutions deliberately skimped
on staff to save money, sometimes locking girls in their rooms and
forcing them to miss class because there weren't enough workers to
watch them.
State officials say the prison, near the South Florida Fairgrounds
in suburban West Palm Beach, has improved dramatically under
Lighthouse's management.
But the facility has continued to struggle with
staff shortages and turnover. The jobs there are among the most
difficult in the state juvenile system: Many of the girls have a
history of violent crime, and many end up there because no other
program could control them.
About 60 girls are at the prison, most of whom have been convicted
repeatedly of crimes such as grand theft and assault.
I've got 10 years' experience and sometimes I got stumped with
these girls' problems, said Hargrave, who has a master's degree in
counseling education.
But salaries for most workers at the privately run prison remain
well below wages at state-run detention centers. Both private
companies that have managed the facility have struggled to stay
within budget while meeting state standards.
Hargrave, who was hired at the prison in July
2003, said she came to believe it was impossible for the center to
improve without spending more money. She attended an April 11
meeting between company leaders and state officials, and said she
was discouraged by the company's focus on the costs of improving its
mental health services.
There was a lot of back and forth about the money, and it just
seemed to me such a critical point for those girls. Again the girls
come last, and what are we looking at first, we're looking at the
money, Hargrave said. You'd have thought somebody had said, 'Go
get some blood out of that rock over there.'
Schneider said money was discussed at that meeting the state's
requirements are expensive but Lighthouse is committed to doing
everything it can to make its program better.
The same week, the facility's executive director, Christine Tappan,
told staff she would leave her position at the end of June. Her
reasons for leaving weren't related to work: She said she needs to
spend more time with her 12-year-old son but will remain with the
company in a less demanding position.
Hargrave said she was even more demoralized when
Tappan, the leader who had tried to rally the staff to stay, was
stepping down. Hargrave quit without notice Wednesday, along with a
clinical director who has not spoken publicly about the reason for
leaving.
Tappan criticized the two workers' sudden departure Friday, saying
it was unethical and hurt the girls who had come to trust and
confide in them.
Schneider said he is confident that Lighthouse can turn the facility
into what it was always meant to be: a national model for the
treatment of troubled girls.
I think we'll be seen as the standard in the industry, he said.
Hargrave also believes the girls at the center can be turned around.
They have problems, she said, but they are still young.
But, she said, if you don't have somebody there
who has got the qualifications to help them, then we are not doing
what we are supposed to be doing.
Kathleen Chapman
18 April 2005
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/04/18/s1b_fig_0418.html
