12 April 2011
Missouri courts announce plans to implement smarter use of juvenile detention alternatives, facilities
CIRCUIT COURT BUDGET COMMITTEE
2112 INDUSTRIAL DRIVE
P. O. BOX 104480
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI
65110
JUDGE STEVEN OHMER, CHAIRMAN
JUDGE PATRICIA JOYCE, VICE-CHAIRMAN
JUDGE T. BENNETT BURKEMPER, JR.
JUDGE CHARLES CURLESS
JUDGE GLEN DIETRICH
JUDGE ROBERT KOFFMAN
JUDGE DONALD MCCULLIN
JUDGE MARK POWELL
JUDGE MARCO ROLDAN
JUDGE NANCY SCHNEIDER
JUDGE KEITH SUTHERLAND
JUDGE WILLIAM SYLER
JUDGE BARBARA WALLACE
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s circuit court budget committee (CCBC) today announced actions to enhance the state’s juvenile detention efforts by focusing on alternatives to detention, where appropriate, and by reducing the number of staff in six historically underutilized detention facilities in the state. The actions will not be implemented until Jan. 1, 2012, giving affected circuits more than eight months to develop transition plans.
“While we realize this action is difficult to take, particularly in light of all the persons whose lives will be affected, we believe this change is in the best long-term interests of the judiciary, the state, its citizens and, most importantly, the children served by our juvenile justice system,” said CCBC Chairman Steven Ohmer, presiding judge of the St. Louis circuit court (22nd Judicial Circuit). “Just as our chief justice has stressed that, for adult offenders, we must be smarter about the punishment alternatives we use to reduce the risk of those individuals re-offending, we also must be smarter about how we deal with children who commit offenses as well. Not every child who commits an offense should be detained in a secure facility; those who commit nonviolent offenses are better served by exploring other alternatives to ensure they are punished for their actions and helped to become productive, law-abiding members of society.
“The action regarding the juvenile detention centers in Missouri is part of a long-range plan to develop and implement statewide standards for juvenile detention to ensure safe and efficient detention centers and to lessen the overall need for secure detention by considering effective alternatives such as home detention services, electronic monitoring, and alcohol monitoring devices,” Ohmer said. “Our decision did not come lightly – it comes only after months of study by a work group of trial judges and state judicial staff who reviewed the physical operations, practices and organizational structure of the state’s secure juvenile detention centers to determine how each facility was using existing staff resources to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the children in those facilities and the communities it serves.”
Evaluations at each detention center concentrated on the facility’s age and condition, the average daily population of the facility over a year, the percentage of occupied capacity over a year, and the proximity of the facility to other juvenile detention centers. The evaluations determined where juvenile detention staff could be reduced while still ensuring the safety, health and welfare of potential detention residents. The reduction in staff will help judicial resources be used more wisely as safe alternatives to detention are developed for appropriate youth.
The six affected detention facilities – located in Bolivar (in Polk County, part of the 30th Judicial Circuit), Cape Girardeau (in Cape Girardeau County, part of the 32nd Judicial Circuit), Poplar Bluff (in Butler County, part of the 36th Judicial Circuit), Sedalia (in Pettis County, part of the 18th Judicial Circuit), Union (in Franklin County, part of the 20th Judicial Circuit) and Warrensburg (in Johnson County, part of the 17th Judicial Circuit) – serve an average of four or fewer children each, or a cumulative average daily total of 18 children, and employ a total of 63.775 full-time equivalent positions.
The reduction in the positions and implementation of the new juvenile detention strategies will not occur until Jan. 1, 2012, giving circuit court staff in the affected circuits more than eight months to work with county officials and other stakeholders to determine the logistics of facility closures, the transport to other facilities of juveniles who need detention, and the costs associated with those efforts. Individuals from CCBC and staff from the state courts administrator’s office will work alongside the affected circuit court staff during this period to make the transition as smooth as possible, including providing resources to help affected staff transition into other jobs. Standards for juvenile detention centers and for implementing juvenile detention alternatives also will be developed during that time.
This plan will allow the state’s remaining 18 juvenile detention facilities – each of which has room available to serve additional children – to operate more as regional centers. Each facility in which staff will be eliminated is very near to a facility that will remain open, so children who need secure detention will be able to be served without being moved more than a county or two away from where they would have be served now.
Ohmer and CCBC members have discussed the action plan with the presiding judges of the affected circuits. The workgroup’s report includes a map of the detention centers and details about their occupancy and staffing levels.
Contact: Beth Riggert
(573) 751-3676
2112 INDUSTRIAL DRIVE
P. O. BOX 104480
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI
65110
JUDGE STEVEN OHMER, CHAIRMAN
JUDGE PATRICIA JOYCE, VICE-CHAIRMAN
JUDGE T. BENNETT BURKEMPER, JR.
JUDGE CHARLES CURLESS
JUDGE GLEN DIETRICH
JUDGE ROBERT KOFFMAN
JUDGE DONALD MCCULLIN
JUDGE MARK POWELL
JUDGE MARCO ROLDAN
JUDGE NANCY SCHNEIDER
JUDGE KEITH SUTHERLAND
JUDGE WILLIAM SYLER
JUDGE BARBARA WALLACE
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri’s circuit court budget committee (CCBC) today announced actions to enhance the state’s juvenile detention efforts by focusing on alternatives to detention, where appropriate, and by reducing the number of staff in six historically underutilized detention facilities in the state. The actions will not be implemented until Jan. 1, 2012, giving affected circuits more than eight months to develop transition plans.
“While we realize this action is difficult to take, particularly in light of all the persons whose lives will be affected, we believe this change is in the best long-term interests of the judiciary, the state, its citizens and, most importantly, the children served by our juvenile justice system,” said CCBC Chairman Steven Ohmer, presiding judge of the St. Louis circuit court (22nd Judicial Circuit). “Just as our chief justice has stressed that, for adult offenders, we must be smarter about the punishment alternatives we use to reduce the risk of those individuals re-offending, we also must be smarter about how we deal with children who commit offenses as well. Not every child who commits an offense should be detained in a secure facility; those who commit nonviolent offenses are better served by exploring other alternatives to ensure they are punished for their actions and helped to become productive, law-abiding members of society.
“The action regarding the juvenile detention centers in Missouri is part of a long-range plan to develop and implement statewide standards for juvenile detention to ensure safe and efficient detention centers and to lessen the overall need for secure detention by considering effective alternatives such as home detention services, electronic monitoring, and alcohol monitoring devices,” Ohmer said. “Our decision did not come lightly – it comes only after months of study by a work group of trial judges and state judicial staff who reviewed the physical operations, practices and organizational structure of the state’s secure juvenile detention centers to determine how each facility was using existing staff resources to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the children in those facilities and the communities it serves.”
Evaluations at each detention center concentrated on the facility’s age and condition, the average daily population of the facility over a year, the percentage of occupied capacity over a year, and the proximity of the facility to other juvenile detention centers. The evaluations determined where juvenile detention staff could be reduced while still ensuring the safety, health and welfare of potential detention residents. The reduction in staff will help judicial resources be used more wisely as safe alternatives to detention are developed for appropriate youth.
The six affected detention facilities – located in Bolivar (in Polk County, part of the 30th Judicial Circuit), Cape Girardeau (in Cape Girardeau County, part of the 32nd Judicial Circuit), Poplar Bluff (in Butler County, part of the 36th Judicial Circuit), Sedalia (in Pettis County, part of the 18th Judicial Circuit), Union (in Franklin County, part of the 20th Judicial Circuit) and Warrensburg (in Johnson County, part of the 17th Judicial Circuit) – serve an average of four or fewer children each, or a cumulative average daily total of 18 children, and employ a total of 63.775 full-time equivalent positions.
The reduction in the positions and implementation of the new juvenile detention strategies will not occur until Jan. 1, 2012, giving circuit court staff in the affected circuits more than eight months to work with county officials and other stakeholders to determine the logistics of facility closures, the transport to other facilities of juveniles who need detention, and the costs associated with those efforts. Individuals from CCBC and staff from the state courts administrator’s office will work alongside the affected circuit court staff during this period to make the transition as smooth as possible, including providing resources to help affected staff transition into other jobs. Standards for juvenile detention centers and for implementing juvenile detention alternatives also will be developed during that time.
This plan will allow the state’s remaining 18 juvenile detention facilities – each of which has room available to serve additional children – to operate more as regional centers. Each facility in which staff will be eliminated is very near to a facility that will remain open, so children who need secure detention will be able to be served without being moved more than a county or two away from where they would have be served now.
Ohmer and CCBC members have discussed the action plan with the presiding judges of the affected circuits. The workgroup’s report includes a map of the detention centers and details about their occupancy and staffing levels.
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Contact: Beth Riggert
(573) 751-3676