MARYLAND

Our say: juvenile detention centers require more attention

Maryland's troubled juvenile detention centers have been a forgotten travesty for as long as we can remember. Mismanagement, fights and a lack of control have led to injury and staff danger. Although taxpayers don't expect these facilities to be country clubs, they deserve to be at least safe and well run. That's hardly the conclusion of an independent study, just released, that says some centers are overcrowded and understaffed - conditions that have led to numerous fights among young inmates. In fact, last year the number of aggressive incidents rose from 640 to 917. That hardly sounds like treatment centers under control and safe for both staff members and juveniles.

In addition, simple items like socks and soap were not adequately supplied and supervised activities were lacking. Given the money that has been directed to Juvenile Services, this sounds like a management problem. About 2,300 children are in the state's care at residential facilities around the state.

Improvements to these centers will take a long time, but we thought the independent monitors who visited these facilities for the study would find more progress. It was a priority of Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who said he wanted to replace these large centers with small, "child-first" services to keep troubled youths from repeating their crimes. If this report is any indication, success has been elusive for Juvenile Services Secretary Kenneth Montague Jr.

Mr. Ehrlich, who rightly made this a campaign issue because of the failures of the Glendening administration, has sought to bring improvements to the program. He closed the long-term residential program at the Charles Hickey School in Baltimore County because it was dangerously out of control. Other new centers have opened under his administration in Baltimore, on the lower Eastern Shore and in Western Maryland. New facilities will replace Hickey, the Cheltenham Youth Facility, the Noyes Children Center and the DeWeese Carter Youth Center.

Hopefully, these more modern facilities will be more secure. More new shelters will open around the state to offer immediate attention for juveniles with substance-abuse problems. All of this sounds like the governor and his administration have a plan in place that eventually will restore order to the program. Major changes like this take time. But if the governor wants the public to feel confident that the program is being well run, monitors will have to find more progress than what this recent report indicates. We suggest that he take another look at whether the right people are in place to get the job done.

Editorial, The Capital
11 May 2006

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/05_11-38/OPN
 

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