MONTGOMERY STUDENT ADVOCATE E-REPORTER
http://studentadvocate-nj.org/MSAER_Index.htm
Volume 1, Issue: 6, November 23, 2004
Editor: Bob Witanek
bwitanek@igc.org
___________________________________________________
In NJ, Juvenile Jail for Crime of Being Young, Poor, Mentally Ill
by Bob Witanek,
http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org
http://APIECENJ.org
To correspond:
Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org
Below is a sad statement for the state of NJ. How can our most vulnerable youth be tossed into juvenile jails and virtually forgotten about? Here we have children, who are mentally ill, who have nothing in the world, no family, no home and what does the system do to them? Treats them worse than the most serious juvenile offenders. Illegally tosses them into unhealthy, often violent, illegally overcrowded facilities without proper medical and therapeutic counseling. An average of 200 children are so illegally imprisoned on any given day in NJ.
This report has
been a year in the making. That means the authorities are well aware of
the situation yet they have no plan on how to address the issues. Who are
the responsible parties for these illegal acts? Is not this illegal
inhumane treatment of these youth a larger crime than whatever infraction led to
these youth being sentenced to "treatment?"
The news reporting on this issue is lacking of some of the pertinent facts.
What is the economic status of the families from which these children came?
What is the racial breakdown of the 200 so housed?
Acting Governor Codey states that this report is passed on to the newly created Mental Health Task Force. It is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed. I am betting that there will be a whole parade of articles that point up to the multitude of examples of absolute failure of the mental health infrastructure in NJ now that the task force has been initiated. These issues need to come to light and to be addressed on an emergency basis. Codey needs to do more than refer it to the committee - immediate action is needed to address the 200 mental health sufferers who are illegally imprisoned. It is unconscionable now that the issue has been identified to leave these children in these conditions for one more day!
Once again though I will caution on the conclusions that the MHTF might come up with. I refer you to the piece I distributed several days ago warning that the federal Mental Health Freedom Commission, that encourages the creation of such state task forces, is promoting mandatory mental health screening for all public school students, teachers and staff, linked to treatment including medication. I urge all to follow developments of the MHTF and to speak out now to the state task force members and the governor to oppose the forced mental health screening. See: http://studentadvocate-nj.org/NJMHTF_Analysis.htm
Read the Star Ledger report.
Where
mentally ill youths are left to despair
Child advocate says county detention centers are being illegally used
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
BY JONATHAN SCHUPPE , Star-Ledger Staff
http://nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-18/110119319669330.xml
The state's juvenile justice system is illegally holding hundreds of mentally ill children in overcrowded conditions with so little care that suicidal behavior has become commonplace, according to a report by the state's child advocate.
A yearlong investigation of New Jersey's 17 juvenile detention centers found many children who have serious mental disorders, are heavily medicated and are at risk of killing themselves. During the first eight months of this year, investigators documented more than 90 suicide threats or attempts.
The investigators for the Office of the Child Advocate found that mentally ill children who have been arrested and ordered by a judge into a treatment facility that has no openings often languish in the detention center, in direct violation of state law, for weeks or months. These children wait longer, on average, than the most serious delinquents sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
As a result, the detention centers, which are run by the counties and monitored by the Juvenile Justice Commission, fill far beyond their capacity, another violation of state law.
"New Jersey's juvenile detention centers now serve inappropriately and illegally as way stations for confined youth in need of mental health care," state Child Advocate Kevin Ryan said at a news conference in Trenton. "This misuse of detention centers comes at a great cost to youth, for it compromises their health, it creates crises within detention centers and it is very costly to society."
Ryan's investigators estimated that on any given day in New Jersey, 200 children with serious mental health disorders sit in detention centers -- about a fifth of the total number of detainees. The county facilities, built as temporary holding sites for dangerous youths, are not equipped to care for the mentally ill, the report said. Frequently, mentally ill children are forced to sleep alongside hardened, dangerous detainees.
To illustrate the problems, investigators detailed the cases of three mentally ill children. One, a 16-year-old boy, attempted suicide in the Union County detention center in May by drinking the contents of a chemical ice pack.
He was treated and underwent an evaluation for a possible placement in a psychiatric unit. A month later, he was still in detention, taking psychotropic drugs. By then, he had attempted suicide four more times and had been charged with assaulting three workers. He was eventually sent out of state for mental health care because no place was available in New Jersey.
"I wish I could tell you this story is exceptional or rare, but it is not," Ryan said. The reasons, he said, was that county detention centers are "the only place that cannot say no."
In Passaic County, a 16-year-old boy was transferred to the detention center in May 2004 from a group home where he had been accused of "aggressive and inappropriate sexual behavior toward staff." By September the boy had attempted suicide 14 times.
In Camden County last summer, a 15-year-old boy attempted suicide at least five times over the course of eight weeks while showing other symptoms of mental illness, including urinating on the floor, showering in his clothes and threatening to assault staffers.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said he was disturbed by the findings. He said he has passed the report to a newly appointed task force that is developing proposals on how to fix the state's mental health system.
Children end up in county detention centers after they have been arrested. The facilities are supposed to serve as a last resort for children who cannot be sent home because they have been abused or neglected, or are considered too dangerous. By law, the centers may house only children who are likely to harm others or skip court appearances.
The children are only supposed to stay in the centers until a judge can hear their cases and decide where to send them. In most cases the alternatives are a Division of Youth and Family Services home, a Department of Human Services mental treatment program, or a permanent lockup run by the Juvenile Justice Commission.
The child advocate's investigation was prompted by reports of chronic overcrowding in the detention centers and the May 10, 2003, suicide of 17-year-old Edward Sinclair in Union County's facility. In an appendix to the report, Ryan's team of investigators blamed county officials for a string of failures that set the stage for Sinclair's death.
Officials in Union County said they are not to blame for the problems at their juvenile detention center.
"We've responded to each and every request issued by the Juvenile Justice Commission," said Frank Guzzo, the director of Union County's Human Services. "We think the issuance of these findings are premature and irresponsible. The conclusions reached by the Office of the Child Advocate are unjustified."
"This is an attempt to lay blame solely on the county when in fact this incident is a reflection of a systematic breakdown that goes far beyond the Union County juvenile detention center," Guzzo added.
Ryan declined to place responsibility on any individual. Instead, he described a lack of coordination among local and state agencies -- counties who run the centers; the Juvenile Justice Commission, which regulates the centers and runs juvenile correctional facilities; and the Department of Human Services, which runs the state's child welfare and mental health systems.
"It's not a matter of one agency dropping the ball, it's a matter of a system of care that has got to be more involved," Ryan said.
Ryan called for the Juvenile Justice Commission to begin strict, immediate enforcement of state rules on overcrowding and proper care, and he asked for tougher sanctions for violators. He said the state also should require every center to have a licensed mental health clinician and to see that all newly admitted youth are placed on suicide watch for their first 48 hours in detention.
Ryan's office has the power not only to investigate mistreatment of children but to sue on their behalf and hold public hearings. He said he wasn't ruling out those options.
State officials said they were already in the process of reforming the system, from improved mental-health screening and care to a yearlong project to reduce crowding.
Howard Beyer, the executive director of the Juvenile Justice Commission, said he welcomed Ryan's report because it will bring more attention to the conditions in juvenile detention centers.
"This is one of the most neglected populations, as far as public conscience is concerned. The fact that we're talking about it is a good thing. It keeps the focus and the attention on the issue," he said.
However, the plight of mentally ill offenders could get worse before it gets better.
In June, the 110-bed Lipman Hall, a private Newark facility that treated boys with serious behavioral problems, closed. And the state has already started moving children out of the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center in Wall, the only state-run psychiatric hospital for kids.
"Those of us in detention are looking with great fear at the possible closing down of a few mental health facilities like Brisbane because we know if alternatives are not created in the community, these children will end up being held in detention centers," said Assemblywoman Mary Previte, director of the Camden detention center. "That will be a tragedy."
Human Services spokesman Andy Williams said his department is already creating new treatment facilities. "We don't have a large argument with what's in the report," he said.
Jonathan Schuppe covers criminal justice. He can be reached at jschuppe@starledger.com or (609) 989-0398.
Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
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