Program helps reduce juveniles in detention

Molly Ball

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.

A year ago, the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center was overcrowded. Boys accused of breaking the law often slept two to a cell, their thin vinyl mattresses crammed into the tiny, bare concrete room.

Now, there is room to spare. Despite the region's population growth and the resulting increase in juvenile delinquents, the Department of Juvenile Justice Services has managed to reduce the population in detention to far below capacity.

The department's detention reduction initiative, which is working to process cases more quickly and efficiently, may have saved the county millions. If the overcrowding had continued, the county would have been forced to build a new facility, officials say.

In December 2003, the average daily population of the detention center was 243. Its capacity is 235. In December 2004, the average was 191.

That's a reduction of more than one-fifth.

"We've come a long way," said department Director Kirby Burgess, a 30-year veteran of the agency. "We've gone from being a system that had a large number of kids who were there inappropriately. Now, there are still lots of challenges, but less."

The juvenile detention center houses minors who have been arrested but have not yet seen a judge. They are waiting for charges to be filed, for hearings to be held, for trials to start.

On average, they are there for 21 days.

But many of them don't need to be locked up, Burgess said, because they aren't a danger to society.

That can be a controversial view in a society that wants every spray-paint vandal put away, he acknowledged. But finding alternatives to juvenile detention ensures that the right offenders are the ones in jail, he said.

"The numbers have gone down, and at the same time we've preserved public safety and put more kids in the right places," he said.

Nonviolent kids can be put under house arrest. Those with drug problems or mental illness should be referred to halfway houses and treatment facilities -- many don't belong in jail, he said.

The county's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, which met Wednesday, has been working for more than a year to address the issue.

Detention is very expensive, pointed out John Rhoads, a Reno-based consultant who supervises a $100,000 grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation that helps fund the initiative.

"We shouldn't have kids in there unnecessarily who can be handled effectively in the community," Rhoads said. "It's about cost effectiveness, fairness and providing the best possible service to families."

The county estimates that housing one child in detention costs about $130 a day, not counting the cost of the facility.

To reduce the number of children sent to detention in the first place, two Clark County prosecutors have been posted at the detention facility's booking room -- a third is on the way. Combined, they are there six days a week until 11 p.m.

The deputy district attorneys evaluate the charges against the arrested to determine if they need to be held. If not, in many cases they can be released to their parents, with other arrangements made depending on their situation.

"After I was elected, in November 2003, I looked at the daily detention numbers, and they were at 250 or 260, with a 235 capacity," said Juvenile Judge William Voy. "I told Kirby Burgess, 'We're going to need a new facility.' "

Instead, Burgess convinced Voy the best solution was to "make room for the kids who need to be there and don't detain the kids who don't need to be there," Voy said.

Voy insisted the initiative wasn't about getting soft on criminals.

"I'm a firm believer in corrective placement," he said. "But kids are very resilient. (In detention,) they'll just get used to it, and you're just warehousing them."

Processing them through the system so they can be placed at the state's youth rehabilitation centers -- where they get counseling and learn discipline and skills -- is more effective, Voy said.

Another area for improvement is that once children are placed in detention, they stay there too long, Burgess said.

The district attorney's office is helping to fix this as well, by voluntarily reducing the time it takes to file charges against arrested juveniles. By statute, prosecutors have eight days, but they have agreed to reduce that to four starting next month.

By the end of the year, Burgess said, he hopes to have it down to two. "That adds up to a lot of bed-days," he said.

Also by the end of the year, Burgess hopes to have so far reduced detention numbers that one or two of the jail's seven units can be shut down. That would free up 20 staff positions, which he hopes to reallocate to front-end services such as family counseling and community supervision.

But much depends on developing social services in the rest of the community, where programs such as drug treatment and especially mental health care are in short supply, Burgess said.

"We've been able to drop the numbers dramatically," Burgess said. "But that's the tip of the iceberg."