LITTLE ROCK -- An independent, nonprofit organization in Arkansas is looking into whether youth sent to the state's juvenile facilities are staying months or even years past their initial release dates.
The Disability Rights Center of Arkansas was prompted to look into the issue after a 13-year-old boy was sent to the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center for disorderly conduct for three to five months and remains there three years later, according to a story published Sunday in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The Disability Rights Center singled out the teenager's case in a report released earlier this month.
Officials with the Arkansas Division of Youth Service, which is a part of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, say stays as long as the teenager's are rare. They say few children are held longer than two years total. But a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said the division doesn't track how many youth stayed past their initial release dates or how many times the division's staff extended a stay past two years.
Pat Arthur, an independent consultant who has studied Arkansas' juvenile justice system, said the teenager's story is not unique.
"It's for decades been true that they are putting kids in there that don't belong, and the nature of the environment breeds behavioral problems," she said. "Kids are staying too long, and it's hurting them."
The Disability Rights Center's report said the teenager came into state custody for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. He has since remained in custody, and the report noted that his stay was extended because of threats to harm himself and misbehavior.
"Staff has noted the youth has 'unraveled' and that his adverse behaviors have increased as a result of his unusually long stay," the monitors wrote. "During interviews with DRC staff, he has stated that he is aware that his behavior is what is keeping him at (the lockup), but no one is listening to his pleas for help."
Arkansas' only juvenile justice ombudsman working for the state government, Scott Tanner, said he knows there are youths who stay in residential facilities longer than they should and that the division needs to review its files to find them.
"Examine those case histories and determine what we can do to provide some effective strategies to put those youth in less restrictive settings," he said. "That can't be done immediately, but I think that's a critical step."
State Desk on 09/01/2014