Editorial: Detention reforms are needed now

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

In May the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center was inspected by two national nonprofit groups specializing in juvenile justice. Representatives of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation and the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center reviewed the center's staffing and procedures at the invitation of the county. In their 24-page report, released this week, the inspectors mainly concentrated on one area -- the facility's outdated approach to the discipline and control of unruly youths.

At the center of the inspectors' attention was the detention center's policy of using pepper spray, restraint chairs and room confinement to control suicidal, defiant or violent youths. "The bottom line is that staff often responds with dangerous, punitive and counterproductive methods of control ... that have no place in a properly run detention facility," the inspectors reported.

In reviewing the center's procedures manual, the inspectors found a description of the effects of pepper spray -- temporary blindness, coughing, choking and nausea "with extreme discomfort for up to 30 minutes." The manual also states, "Always attempt to spray directly into the subject's face. The closer, the more effective." Once sprayed, the youths are strapped into a "plastic molded seat that staff uses to completely immobilize" them, the report stated. The report also says it is common for youths to be strapped down like that for 10 minutes before anyone flushes their eyes. The report details other disciplinary procedures, such as isolating youths in stripped-down rooms for days at a time.

The report was complimentary about most other aspects of the detention center's operations, so it is unfortunate that discipline and control methods were found to be extreme and commonly used. The inspectors outlined a number of recommendations, including: stricter procedures for using pepper spray, the training of staff in ways to de-escalate conflicts without resorting to force, and the addition of full-time mental health staff. Currently, there are six therapists and a supervising psychologist assigned to the center, but none on a full-time basis.

The inspectors reported that staff at the center and staff at the highest level of the county are open to changes. In our view, changes made as the result of this report can't come too soon.