Assaults rise at juvenile facilities

Lack of a maximumsecurity facility to house violent juveniles has contributed to an increase in assaults on employees at the state’s two medium-security facilities, a legislative panel was told Tuesday.

Lawmakers are conducting budget and performance hearings with state agencies as the Feb. 4 opening day for the legislative session approaches.

In 2011, the Office of Juvenile Affairs closed the L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs. It was the only state juvenile facility that could house juveniles in need of maximum security.

The demise of the facility resulted in the closure of 48 beds in the Intensive Treatment Program, which was for the most aggressive youth. The entire facility had 186 beds.

Costs were part of the reason for its closure, along with concerns that the aging facility wasn’t amenable to housing juveniles.

In fiscal year 2011, about 12 percent of residents at the state’s secure facilities in Manitou and Tecumseh were involved in assaults on staff, a figure which rose to 27.6 percent in fiscal year 2012.

The assaults have contributed to a high turnover rate among employees, said Dick Parish, the agency’s director of institutional services.

“Until I can get a facility to transfer these most dangerous clients to, we are going to rock and roll,” Parish said.

The agency is seeking $2 million to provide housing juveniles who are extremely violent and/or have mental health issues, said Keith Wilson, the agency’s executive director.

Currently, those groups are mixed in with the other youth, Wilson said.

The agency recently put out a request for proposal for a private contractor to provide care, treatment and housing in a 16- to 32- bed maximum-security facility for youth who are violent or have serious mental health issues, Wilson said.

More than half of the juveniles at the two facilities have significant mental health issues, Wilson said.

“For the most part, we are just trying to survive with the drastic budget cuts we have had,” Wilson said.