This article explores a “culture of violence” in
Colorado Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) facilities and the ways that it
adversely impacts the children under their authority. The Colorado Child Safety
Commission and the ACLU released an investigative report on tactics used by the
facilities for order, discipline, and punishment. These methods included shackling,
excessive restraints, solitary confinement, and physical abuse, among others
which together promote a violent environment. These types of juvenile
correctional facilities are intended to act as rehabilitative agents, rather
than distributors of punishment. With this
culture of severe punishment and violence has come a dramatic increase of
fights and assaults within the facilities. Under-staffing at corrections
facilities have heralded staff reliance on physical management of youth, which
can result in emotional and bodily harm.
Colorado is attempting to improve the staffing ratio
at their facilities and increase access to mental health services for the
juveniles. As many children in corrections come from at-risk families and have
trauma histories, more needs to be done to provide them with a true environment
of healing and rehabilitation. Missouri has been an exemplar for what these
systems should look like, as their juvenile corrections embrace a therapeutic
approach, the use of normative residential environments, and have seen the
highest rehabilitation success rate in the country.
The article does not go into extensive detail
about what Missouri’s system looks like, but highlights the use of a holistic
approach that provides for the individualized needs of the children in their
care. I feel the article does a nice job of demonstrating the interactions
between policy and practice, as well as between child welfare and juvenile
justice. As social workers, we have a duty to recognize the vulnerability in
the population of incarcerated youth and fight for their safety and treatment. I
was horrified at the pictures that showed the conditions these children are
forced to endure. While it is encouraging that Colorado is seeking to pilot a
program similar to that of Missouri’s system of juvenile justice treatment,
there continues to be a need for oversight, reporting, and advocacy to protect
this dependent group.
This article upsets me, and the situation clearly demonstrates the power difference that is being taken advantage of within these facilities between the juvenile offenders and the staff. The staff are forgetting that these offenders are still children at the end of the day, their level of violence, aggression, and punishment towards these juveniles is unacceptable. However, I have hope that the facility is increasing access to mental health services. These are the services that are needed in facilities when working with youth, along with the use of trauma-informed care.
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