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CorrectCare
Juvenile Voice
Special Housing Unit
Smooths Reentry
by Michele
Maynard and Vickie Alston, MSW, LCSW, QICSW
Part of
Connecticut’s Department of Correction, Manson Youth Institution
is a programmatically rich, 719-bed correctional facility
housing males aged 14 through 20 who are being tried as adults.
Many of these youth meet the qualifications for a period of
supervised community placement before the end of their sentence,
which strongly supports their successful reentry and
reintegration into the community.
However, an
obstacle deeply imbedded in the correctional culture was
disrupting, and in some cases eliminating, these early release
options. As administrators, we were faced with many youth
approved for early release who subsequently had serious
disciplinary infractions that forced the rescission of their
early release program decisions. Upon researching this issue and
speaking with these youth, we found a collective mindset and
practice among the incarcerated population in which youth
approved for early release were being engaged in fights,
assaults and other serious infractions with the aim of
threatening or preventing their participation in early release
programs.
As this only
compounded the negativity of incarceration as well as the
youth’s sense of loss, disappointment and failure, a new
initiative was needed.
Reentry
Housing Aids Transitions
Manson Youth Institution’s reentry housing unit was created in
January 2010 as an immediate intervention for those youth
approved for early release. The unit can house up to 72 youth
who, on average, reside there for four to six weeks. After
moving this group into the same housing unit, the incidents that
threatened these release decisions dropped significantly and to
date are almost nonexistent.
Program and
service needs for the unit began to arise immediately. No
additional staff were needed, although we did reallocate some
current staff and resources to the unit. Some existing program
components were adopted; a mental health process group that
addressed the anxiety and stressors associated with discharging
was expanded; a community daily meeting that worked so
effectively in our inpatient substance abuse program was
adopted; and enhanced discharge planning systems and other
supportive programs were established.
But we found
ourselves asking what else is needed to assist the successful
reentry of a youthful population. We, as adults and correctional
professionals, thought we knew what these youth needed by
researching best practices and reviewing evidence-based
programs. Ultimately, however, we formed focus groups with
willing participants and asked them about their experiences,
their needs and their goals after incarceration.
The information
gathered from these surprisingly candid youth was unexpected and
so basic. When asked about their most positive experience at
Manson Youth Institution, the majority pointed to their healthy
relationships with facility staff.
In hindsight,
knowing that most of the youth were entering the system from
families that had current or recent involvements with the
Department of Children and Families, it should not have been
surprising that the stable and positive relationships provided
by Manson’s staff were a welcomed support. Parlaying this
information into the foundations of the reentry unit’s programs,
we concentrated on the availability of a variety staff to
mentor, counsel and provide one-on-one services to the youth in
conjunction with formal preemployment and discharge readiness
programs and services.
Community
Partners Support Success
We added our community partners to our on-unit seminar
presenters to help establish and cultivate relationships with
these community agency providers prior to discharge. Also, for
each discharging youth we create customized “kid-friendly”
wallet-sized resource cards that list contact names, addresses
and phone numbers of those community providers set to deliver
preestablished and prescheduled services.
Another
positive development that arose from this initiative is the
reentry working group. Composed of facility staff and community
partners, this group meets monthly to report successes, present
issues, recruit support and seek resolution to discharge
obstacles for reentry unit residents. We continue to explore
possible additions to our programs and to establish
evidence-based practices. This meeting grows in scope and
membership every time we meet.
Outreach to
established reentry councils in the larger catchments areas is
ongoing and we are continually being contacted by new providers
and others with resources who want to be involved. This
grassroots enthusiasm can be attributed to the uniqueness of
this program and the creativity of its approach. Staff and
providers can help to craft individual reentry plans for these
youth and in the process become personally vested in their
success. For all of us in the “people business,” this is the
essence from which we draw our job satisfaction and our
unwavering drive to engage youth in a system that may otherwise
breed negativity and staff burnout.
—
About the authors:
Michele
Maynard is deputy warden of programs, Manson Youth Institution,
Cheshire, CT; e-mail Michele.Maynard@po.state.ct.us. Vickie
Alston, MSW, LCSW, QICSW, is health services administrator and
manager of the transitional services program, Correctional
Managed Health Care, University of Connecticut Health Center,
Farmington, CT; e-mail: valston@uchc.edu.
[This article first appeared in the
Winter 2011 issue of CorrectCare.]
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