New firm to manage state youth lockups

LITTLE ROCK — A Nevada company is poised to take over management of all state youth lockups until 2023, after lawmakers Wednesday approved a contract worth more than $70 million.

The agreement, which will hand day-to-day operation of facilities at Dermott, Harrisburg and Mansfield to Rite of Passage on July 1, comes just over two months before the state’s contract with Youth Opportunity is to expire.

Rite of Passage has managed the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center at Alexander since 2016.

With the management

change, the state plans to close its fifth youth lockup, at Lewisville, until further notice.

Rite of Passage may transform the campus into a substance-abuse treatment program, if money is available, according to a news release Wednesday from the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

The state’s youth detention facilities house more than 200 children who committed juvenile felonies, misdemeanors and other infractions.

Groups managing the facilities have been the targets of lawsuits and criticism in recent years claiming children were mistreated. State agencies since 2018 have downsized the system and reduced children’s stays in its facilities.

Rite of Passage bid for the contract to manage all of Arkansas’ youth detention facilities in 2019 but lost after a review of the firm’s history of operating Colorado juvenile-offender jails. The review included allegations that the group placed children in unsafe conditions with abusive guards.

The company has said it remains in good standing with Colorado and still manages the Ridge View Academy, a treatment center and school for child offenders in Watkins, Colo.

Arkansas’ Division of Youth Services, which is responsible for the detention facilities, announced Wednesday the Rite of Passage contract amendment approval by the legislative Joint Budget Committee. The division is part of the state Human Services Department.

The state’s amended contract with Rite of Passage has the option to renew annually and is worth $70,588,291 in state and federal funds.

“We’re excited to be able to continue our work in the state of Arkansas, especially now playing a bit of a larger role,” Mike Cantrell, executive director of Rite of Passage, said Wednesday.

Cantrell added among first steps for the management transition would be to meet with the staff for “town halls” at each facility. He said the group plans to hire any employees who want to keep working at the facilities and pass company background checks.

“I know that today things just got better for the kids in the state of Arkansas,” Cantrell said. We’re going to be able to bring some consistency to the programs.”

The goal is to have the substance-abuse treatment program running by January, Cantrell said. It would include an after-care program to track children’s progress after they are discharged.

There are eight children at the Lewisville campus. By the time Rite of Passage takes over, they all will be transferred to other facilities, said Amy Webb, a Human Services Department spokeswoman.

Youth Opportunity Investments started operating Arkansas’ youth detention facilities at Dermott, Harrisburg,

Lewisville and Mansfield in July 2019, but informed the state in mid-February it wouldn’t renew the contract for another year. It cited financial concerns.

The Indiana-based agency said at the time it was losing money because of needed infrastructure improvements and fewer kids placed in state custody than expected. Payment by the state is based on the number of filled beds.

“We came in, saw this need, we provided what we think was needed,” said Gary Sallee, a spokesman for Youth Opportunity, said. “We just can’t continue to

pay for it.”

Youth Opportunity became the subject of two lawsuits in January and scrutiny from advocacy groups and the state juvenile ombudsman after reports that employees zip-tied children overnight, forced them to urinate and defecate in Gatorade bottles or foam cups, slammed them into walls and gave them Benadryl when they needed mental health care.

A few workers were fired after the incident, and Youth Opportunity submitted a plan of correction to the state. Sallee denied the allegations and said the company’s investigation found no evidence of abuse.

In 2018, the state debuted a juvenile-justice overhaul aiming to decrease the length of kids’ stays in lockups and treat them at home when possible. The number of children in state facilities has dropped from 327 in July 2017 to 235 in February.

The facilities that Rite of Passage will operate have the capacity to house 230 children in residential beds and 20 in assessment beds, according to the state news release.