New Concepts in Detention

By KAREN WILSON

Many new concepts in the detention of children and adolescents have been tried dur- ing the past few years from completely open, unlocked settings, to closed, locked settings. The facility to be discussed in this article presents yet another concept - possibly a happy medium between open and closed set- tings. The philosophies presented here were developed by the administrative team at the facility.’ The idea for the Children’s Court Center formally came into being in 1972, when Judge Richard Loffswold submitted a grant to GCCA for funding. * It was felt for a number of years that Southeast Kansas was in need of a place to hold children awaiting court hearings and placement, as there are no facilities of this nature other than jails in the area.

PHYSICAL FACILITIES The Children’s Court Center is housed in a

remodeled dormitory that sits on three acres of land at the edge of Pittsburg, Kansas. The grounds contain a softball diamond, a brick fireplace, a tennis court, and basketball goals. A building has recently been added which contains a classroom and shop area. Within the main building, the Children’s Court Center, Juvenile Court, Probation Coun-

Author’s address: Karen Wilson Psychologist Children’s Court Center 30th & Michigan Pittsburg, Kansas 66762

selors, Crawford County Mental Health Center, and the Crawford County Health Department are housed. The Children’s Court Center occupies two and one-half floors, which include a kitchen and dining room, gymnasium, administrative offices, a classroom, two dormitory areas, and two in- tensive treatment units. It was designed to be, and functions as, a detention facility with locked doors only on the ends of the dormito- ry corridors and at the entrances to the build- ing. The age range of youth accepted at the center is eight through eighteen, with a capac- ity of twenty-five boys and sixteen girls. Youth are accepted for the purposes of detention, evaluation, and/or treatment. The center has been functioning since December, 1973, with the percentage of runaways at two per- cent, and an average rate of recidivism at ten percent. There have been 564 youth in resi- dence from December, 1973 to March 30, 1976. The average length of stay is 3 1.7 days. The following unique characteristics are felt to be the major factors contributing to the successful functioning of the center.

CONTROL Because the facility’s primary focus is on

detention, the control of youth is a major issue. The youth are not locked in their rooms; therefore, control must be seen in terms of something other than physical con- trol. It is seen as being an ideology contained within the individual counselor’s concept of himselfor herselfas an authority figure. (Line

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KAREN WILSON

staff members are called counselors.) When the counselor confronts an individual or a group of young people, and sees himself or herself as being in control of the individual or group, the youth will act or react in accor- dance with this. If the staff member questions hidher ability to control, the youth will act or react by testing the counselor to find out how far this can be used to extend the limits. Em- phasis is placed on the relationship developed by the staff member, as an authority figure, with the youth. If the staff member maintains the balance of being a firm but fair adult figure, the respect of the youth will follow. This respect is the first necessary step in de- veloping a therapeutic counseling relation- ship, and is the primary goal of both female and male counselors.

TREATMENT

COUNSELING: A + THERAPY

The counselor must be an authority figure, and must be able to develop relationships with the youth in which heishe is respected. Coun- seling is done by the counselors because these persons have the most frequent contact with the youth, and have the opportunity to de- velop the respect needed to practice what the author shall call, “A + the rap^."^

A + means authority + counselor; the counselor as seen in traditional therapies is a person who is able to be genuine, express unconditional positive regard, and express empathy. The therapeutic relationship, then, is based upon the counselor’s ability to relate to the youth as a firm, but fair authority figure, who is in control; as well as a caring, empathetic person who will listen to them, and help them work through problems. Trust is also very important, because many youth at the center have learned not to trust adults, particularly those in authority. As the coun- selor carries out the routine duties of mainte- nance, answering requests, and dealing with disciplinary matters, and the youth see pat- terns of honesty and consistency in the coun- selor; they develop trust in the counselor. The basic facets of the role model of the counselor

in A + Therapy, then, can be stated in terms of the three C S : ~ control, consistency, and caring. Each counselor is assigned youth to counsel with, and formal counseling sessions are held at least once every week. Group counseling is also done twice a week, by counselors on duty and MSW social workers whose services are contracted.

The aims of this type of counseling are to (1) work with the youth through major con- flicts, problems and/or developmental tasks, and (2) teach the youth appropriate and satis- factory means of relating to parental figures. The combination of firm, fair authority fig- ure, and counselor is seen as the ideal paren- tal role model. In working through conflicts, counseling is very directive, confrontive, and reality oriented with most youth,’ although the counseling approach is dependent solely upon the needs of the youth as seen by the individual, hidher counselor, the supervisor, and the psychologist.

INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMMING:

A treatment plan is developed for each youth upon admittance. Each youth is placed on a system, which is used to aid in the at- tainment of a specific goal(s) as outlined in the treatment plan. The system is a tool used to help the child and is chosen to fit the specific needs of the child. The team approach is used by the counselors in treatment, and all coun- selors are familiar with the treatment plans and system for each youth. The youth’s need for external control and/or need for rein- forcement are the determining factors in choosing a system.

The Allowance Responsibility System, (ARS) is the basic system that a young person is placed on for the first few weeks. It is used after that period for older youth (1 3-1 7) for development of socially appropriate be- havioral skills. It provides an average amount of external control, and an average amount of reinforcement,

The Personal Responsibility System, (PRS) is used for younger children (8-12), and emo- tionally disturbed children. to give them specific behavioral objectives, and to provide

20 Juvenile Justice February, 1977

NEW CONCEPTS IN DETENTION

more immediate reinforcement and contact with the counselors. It is also used with older youth (13-17) to help them learn to accept responsibility for their own behavior. This program provides a greater amount of external control than the ARS, or the IRS, and a greater amount of reinforcement.

“The philosophy developed for the Chil- dren’s Court Center is to attend to the individual needs of the youth in residence and to prepare them for reentry into the community. The basic philosophy of deten- tion then, is rehabilitation.”

The Independent Responsibility System, (IRS) is used with youth who have developed appropriate internal control and who are working on coping skills or social skills. This system provides a minimum amount of guid- ance and structure. The emphasis here is placed on independence and responsibility for self. It provides the least amount of exter- nal control and consistent reinforcement of the three system. Built into these systems as rewards are activities, such as passes with counselors, trips to movies, roller skating, bowling, camping, and canoeing trips.8

Each child’s progress is reviewed monthly by the entire staff, with the child present, and necessary changes are made in the treatment plan and/or the system. These systems are used simply as tools and are not expected to change behavior. It is felt that behavior and attitudes can only be changed through human interaction. Again, individualization is imperative, and there are nearly as many causes for behavior as there are behaviors.

KIDS WILL BE KIDS

Situations of youth admitted are extremely diverse. One may be that of a nine-year-old child who was abandoned by his parents, and one may be that of a seventeen-year-old ado- lescent who has stolen a car and run away from home. At present, the only division in housing units is that of boys and girls. When

the center is functioning at capacity, each child has a roommate. If not, youth are as- signed individual rooms. It is assumed that there is no such thing as a bad kid, and that socializing experiences can be valuable for all children and adolescents. General factors causing anti-social behaviors are usually emo- tional disturbance, social learning, or learn- ing disabilities. These are sometimes com- bined as specific causations, dependent upon the individual. Ways in which the center pro- vides for dealing with these causations are: counseling, as previously discussed, school, and family counseling.

SCHOOL

A school is located at the center with a teacher from the local school district. Em- phasis is placed on remedial and practical education through individualized instruc- tion. Career education in terms of classwork and practical experience is also available.

If the youth has been in school, steps are taken to keep him up with the class in their home school system. If the youth has not been in school, steps are taken to initiate either reentry into the school system, prepara- tion for the GED, and/or preparation for entry into the world of work, depending upon the age of the youth.

FAMILY COUNSELING

If it is felt that there are problems within a youth’s family that can be worked out, family counseling is used to aid in understanding the youth and hidher family. If the youth is re- turning to the family, hopefully the members gain insight into working with the youth, and the youth gains insight into hidher role in the family. Training in parent effectiveness is used in situations where parents are having difficulty with control of discipline and con- sistency.

CONCLUSION Detention has been used with youth for

many years, and detention facilities have tra- ditionally been holding places. The period of

February, 1977 I Juvenile Justice 21

KAREN WILSON

time that a youth is in detention has been a time out period or a waiting period, and has been considered to be a type of punishment to show the young person a sample version of what prison would be like if helshe didn’t change certain behaviors. In the initial stages of the Children’s Court Center, a great deal of thought was given to the structuring of the time that young people would be spending in residence. In view of the basic humanistic philosophies being expressed in prison reform legislation, and the change from mainte- nance to rehabilitation seen in residential in- stitutions for the mentally ill, as well as in state supported institutions for youth; it was decided that this center would follow this line of thinking in setting up a program. The philosophy developed for the Children’s Court Center is to attend to the individual needs of the youth in residence and to prepare them for reentry into the community. The basic philosophy of detention then, is re- habilitation. It is the contention of the staff at the center that treatment can be a part of detention; that detention can and should be a positive learning experience. Through the

understanding of, and attendance to the needs of young people, their contacts with the estab- lishment can become useful experiences in alternative means of dealing with power struc- tures and institutions in our society. Because the young people of today are the leaders of tomorrow, our future is dependent upon the effectiveness of their functioning as produc- tive members in this society. Treatment in detention can provide youth with some of the tools necessary for this type of functional par- ticipation.

FOOTNOTES ‘Harry Davis, Superintendent; Karen Wilson,

Psychologist and Assistant Superintendent and John Bozich, Family Therapist. “Philosophy of Treat- ment.” (1975) p. 2.

%chard Loffswold, Juvenile and Probate Judge of Craw- ford County.

3Governor’s Committee on Criminal Administration. “Grant Number 72-E 1975.”

4Karen Wilson, Psychologist. “A + Therapy.” 1976. Wonald H. Blocher, Developmental Counseling (New

Waren Wilson, Psychologist. “A + Therapy.” 1976. ’William Glasser, Reality Therapy (New York: Harper

%taff. Children’s Court Center. (1976).

York: The Ronald Press, 1966), pp. 144-147.

and Row, 1965).

22 Juvenile Justice I February, 1977