Department of Health and Human Services looking for support in bettering programming options for juvenile offenders
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
Representatives from Walworth County Health and Human services told members of the Walworth County Executive Committee Jan. 9 juvenile corrections placements rates are up and they’re looking towards revamping programming to divert youth from this path.
County Administrator David Bretl said discussions originally began at a county finance committee meeting after the department of health and human services requested additional funds for juvenile correctional placement.
Bretl said in recent years, the department has been able to reduce the number of juveniles in secure detention, which is good due to not only saving the county money, but additionally keeping young residents out of the juvenile system which ultimately feeds into the criminal system.
However, Bretl said the County is beginning to see an up turn in placements and the costs associated with them.
Bretl said his purpose of bringing it before the board was to sort of lay out the background, allowing health and human services to begin laying out a program and board members to begin considering for budgeted monies in 2016.
Juvenile placement
Providing a little history, Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Aldred said in 2006 the County had 17 juveniles placed in corrections, down to three in 2010 and no juveniles placed in 2013. Aldred said the County now has three juveniles placed, with a potential for five more who are on stays.
Walworth County Behavioral Health and Crisis Intervention Manger Carlo Nevicosi said it costs the county about $100,000 each year for each juvenile placed in corrections.
Aldred said the projected cost for 2015 for the three juveniles already placed is $265,783, though this figure doesn’t include the potential five.
As long as the child is still a juvenile and not in the adult court system, Aldred said the entire cost falls on the County. While they do collect some of the funds from the parents of the juvenile, it’s not likely that the juvenile’s parents can afford to foot the whole bill and end up paying a portion of the costs.
Nevicosi said after the closing of Ethan Allen School in Wales, Lincoln Hills, located in a rural part of central Wisconsin is the only long-term correctional facility open for boys in the state. He said the county does use correctional facilities in Racine, Waukesha and Rock counties, though those are only for brief, sanctionable situations, like spending 72 hours for failing a drug-screening as an example.
Noting that he doesn’t think the community is less safe than in 2013, Nevicosi said having juveniles placed in a correctional facility three hours a way limits the opportunities to bring the juveniles in and get their families involved in the treatment.
Nevicosi said he feels it would be another issue if juvenile corrections placement was something that was working, if juveniles came out ready for and adult life and ready to be true to society.
“But that’s really not what we’re seeing,” he said.
In response to a question from Supervisor Nancy Russell, Aldred said some of the juveniles placed are situations where they had tried multiple things and correctional placement was the only opportunity they had, though she feels these numbers have come down in the past because of the County Board’s support for programming.
Additionally, Aldred said the juveniles recommended for correctional placement seem to be repeat offenders, not juveniles they’re seeing for the first time.
Preventative measures
Aldred said she thinks previous programming changes in the department has had a positive impact on diverting youth from being placed in the juvenile corrections system. Working with the Walworth County District Attorney’s Office in taking a look at the cases of juveniles currently on stays, Aldred said the department believes there might be other options for these juveniles.
“We can work with the courts, work with the D.A., work within our department programming that we have and look for more ways to defer kids and not have them end up in corrections,” she said.
Aldred said recidivism rates among juveniles placed in the juvenile corrections system is a trend, noting the number of times an adolescent has been in corrections and ends up in the adult jail system is significant.
“We have from one adult return trip to 21 adult return trips,” she said.
Aldred said with the success of county programming like the drug and OWI courts, it makes sense to look at long-term opportunities that can benefit the County.
“If we can kind of create a model that incorporates all those branches I think we have some chance of being increasingly successful,” she said.
Nevicosi said one of the things that comes to his mind is intensive supervision.
“Is there another model of community supervision that we can offer that will be credible with the district attorney and the public,” he said.
He said this could be the uphill battle for the group working on this issue, finding a balance between accountability, community safety and good services for juvenile offenders.
“Okay, this is enough accountability, this is the right amount of supervision and consequences for a kid that committed this offense, that’s the balance,” he said.
“We can throw research, this works, or this works, or this works but do we have credibility with the D.A. and the public, does it look like we’re being too soft on these kids.”
Bretl said it’s a tough topic, and in talking with an un-named individual who had run afoul with the law many years ago, he was told the individual was sentenced to wash dishes at home. The individual went on to lead a productive life.
Bretl said wasn’t suggesting juveniles should be sentenced to wash dishes, as times have changed and there are dangerous individuals out there, but he feels the message remains the same that juveniles can end up on a path of adult criminality by being placed in the juvenile system and it’s important to “explore the universe of other opportunities out there.”
Russell said she thinks the department should put together a formal report on the matter and then look to ways to get back on the county’s previous track, as programming seemed to be working up until 2013.
Additionally, she said it’s too easy to just continue on a “throw them in jail, we don’t have to think about them if there somewhere we don’t have to look at them or worry about them,” type of mindset.
“I think that’s very counterproductive,” she said. “How much is this person is going to cost society during their lifetime if we don’t turn them around.
“If there’s a possibility to do that, I think we should take every opportunity.”
