Scarce detention housing stymies juvenile courts
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ALPENA -- Another set of doors just closed in the face of kids who need help doing better, a juvenile court official said.
The Wednesday closure of Roscommon County Juvenile Detention Center means Northeast Michigan courts have one less option for placing dangerous youths in secure detention, a step some call necessary in deterring future violent or criminal behavior.
The Roscommon closure follows recent closures at other Michigan juvenile detention facilities, leaving Alpena court officers few placement options and burdening the county with skyrocketed rates for those few openings that do exist, said Janelle Mott, juvenile officer for the 26th Circuit Court Family Division.
With the help of state funding, Alpena County could make a dent in the problem -- and keep troubled kids close to home -- by constructing its own facility to securely house youths and also provide a sure source of income for the county, Mott said.
In the meantime, juvenile detention center closures elsewhere mean violent youths remain free in the community, she said.
"We have got dangerous, dangerous kids," Mott said. "If you've seen it in the adult system, most of it we've seen in the juvenile system."
NO BEDS
Family division staff have often housed youths at the Roscommon facility, the latest in a string of six or seven such facilities to shutter their doors in recent years.
Those closures came just as a change in state laws reclassified 17-year-olds as minors for most court matters, upping the number of young people landing in family division rather than adult court.
A minor who needs to be removed from a violent situation can spend a few hours in a holding room built for that purpose at the Alpena County Sheriff's Office.
By law, youths must be kept out of sight and hearing from adult jail inmates and be separated from them by a physical barrier.
The Alpena County Sheriff's Office includes one such room, separate from the jail and outfitted with a futon, chair and table, and television but not built for long-term housing.
Once courts hold an emergency hearing, usually within six or eight hours of a violent incident, the county has to either find an available detention center bed for a potentially dangerous youth or allow him or her back into the community, said Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith.
Lately, such available beds are few and far between.
A LOCAL SOLUTION
A recent collaboration between Cheboygan County courts and the Cheboygan County Sheriff to create juvenile housing in that county's jail inspired Mott to reach out to Smith and pursue something similar in Alpena.
Mott's suggested fix requires much more legwork before it can be presented to commissioners, but the proposed project could both help the county house youths and fund the Sheriff's Office, Smith said.
When the state changed its rules about 17-year-olds, it promised to help counties pay for extra costs they would incur because of the change, at least initially.
A few years remain on that promise, and the county might be able to use such funding to build an addition to the jail to house juvenile offenders, Mott said.
Juvenile detention housing offers a highly secure, structured setting that encourages responsible behavior and appropriate social skills. Facilities often provide schooling or other rehabilitative programs.
Mott is researching requirements for such housing and won't propose the project to commissioners unless she has also found a way to pay for it, she said.
The detention facilities still open know their housing is in high demand and have raised prices accordingly, nearly doubling the cost to the county. Youth placements now cost $300 per day per placed youth, Mott said.
Youth detention housing could help not only Alpena County courts but also family courts throughout the area, all vying for the same few open youth detention center beds and potentially eager to pay to use an Alpena facility.
'UNTIL THEY FIND A GUN'
Some detention facilities with beds available say they would take Alpena youths if they could hire enough staff.
"It doesn't help me when I've got two kids who are committing armed robbery all across the county," Mott said.
Even as they work to house violent kids, family division workers have noticed an increase in violent youth behavior, especially among older minors.
For the first time, Mott has recently noticed a high level of physical violence among 8- to 11-year-olds, often in the form of violence toward parents.
Courts have seen more methamphetamine and other hard drug use among teens and more home invasions, including invasions involving weapons, she said.
A group of youths breaking into cars may not seem dangerous, "until they find a gun in one car and a person sitting in the next," Mott said.
'THIS IS OUR DANGER'
Ready access to detention means courts can provide an immediate consequence a young person won't like -- something that may stop them the next time they have a violent impulse.
If Alpena courts could quickly place youths locally, perhaps only for a weekend, the lessons they would learn by being locked up could mean a safer community in the long run, Mott said.
Many details have yet to be explored, including how the juvenile housing would be staffed and where it would be built. But Mott plans to pursue the possibility vigorously to see if it might be a feasible solution for Alpena and the surrounding area.
Wednesday's announcement of the Roscommon closure gives more incentive to find some solution, and find it quickly.
When a 10-year-old boy picks up a knife and goes after his mother at 3 a.m., the court needs a place to put him, Mott said.
"This is our danger," she said. "This is our risk. I have to be able to find a bed."
Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.