CELLBLOCk SOLUtiOn?
Phoenix Program has shown promise in keeping lockups safe, officials say
By MikeWard MART — State officials call them the worst of the worst. But at first glance, the eight teenage boys slouched at stainless steel tables, in gray polo shirts and khaki pants, might pass for a bunch of sullen high-schoolers almost anywhere in Texas.
The youths are the focal point of an initiative by state officials to curb violence inside Texas’ state-run youth lockups. Called the Phoenix Program, it provides treatment and education in a steelbar environment, instead of the campuslike setting found at other state juvenile lockups.
Officials say the 24-bed program at the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility near Waco is a success so far, though they admit it has been open for just two months and holds only 14 boys.
Still, weekly referrals to security at the six state-run lockups — a benchmark of how many incarcerated youths in Texas cause serious trouble in custody — are down from June to August, albeit slightly, according to official statistics.
And internal reports by investigators show the lockups have been much calmer than they were last spring, when disturbances, gang fighting and assaults on both youths and staffi were an almost daily occurrence. For instance, 56 assaults and 15 serious incidents were reported during the second week of June at the six lockups, while 28 assaults and 14 serious incidents were reported during a week at the end of August.
“This is a high-security, high-structure environment, exactly where youths who assault and injure others should be,” said Jay Kimbrough, interim executive director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, who pushed for the creation of the program, named after the