Jack Kirkpatrick
05-07-2009, 10:24 AM
Last night's escape: "Authorities are searching for three boys who walked away from the Log Cabin Ranch in unincorporated San Mateo County near La Honda Wednesday night, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office." The "inmates" not just boys, were placed there for rehabilitation using the "enlightened" focus of the late 1960s.
I reference the public back to a number of threads in this and other forums that speak about previous escapes from juvenile facilities for an expanded view of the problems.
The old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink," once again raises its ugly head. Whatever the reason for an escape, the county is not the parents but the county is treated by the inmates as though they are. An escape is a resounding statement, "Hey mom" and maybe, "Hey dad..., I do what I want to do and screw you...!" What's enlightening in that statement? Kids have been expressing similar views for years and most families have adequate sanctions to control the situation. Those that don't are either going to lose their children to the street or public intervention may be the order of the day.
What part of rehabilitation is really taking place? Family rehabilitation has failed, probation has failed, now an unsecured rehabilitation facility as failed! It is time provide money and secure our "countywide" youth detention facilities regardless of the county of commitment and then pursue rehabilitation.
Facilities like Camp Glenwood and Log Cabin Ranch are too remote to provide significant rehabilitation to a ward of the court and their family. If the family is not involved in weekly group and conjoint group counseling with oversight by a psychologist and counseling staff, not much is really going to change for families-in-need. These rehabilitation facilities need to be placed closer to the service population, not 40 miles out of town and out of public sight! These kids can be lost in a heartbeat by accident, getting lost or maintaining their continued criminal activity that endangers the community.
Parents should be ordered by the court to attend these counseling programs or the ward should not be place at these facilities. We know with some certainty, that family reunification is the expected norm and inmates will return to the same environment that brought them to the courts attention!
For now, our county needs rehabilitation by double fencing our youth service facilities and add staffing and programs that provide active participation and set aside or reduce passive programs using modules that are presented through television and self-help courses. It is time to also insist that other counties maintain their facilities in a secure, well lighted and well supervised way; better yet, they should be provided within their own county where the families reside. I recommend that these facilities be closed until correction action occurs and a yearly county audit and compliance review be undertaken. This should be measured so to determing their successes and failure against a cost benefit to the taxpayers. That also means establishing an ongoing longitutional study using old and current records of the inmates placed at the detention facilities to see where they are today and follow up on the present population!
I reference the public back to a number of threads in this and other forums that speak about previous escapes from juvenile facilities for an expanded view of the problems.
The old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink," once again raises its ugly head. Whatever the reason for an escape, the county is not the parents but the county is treated by the inmates as though they are. An escape is a resounding statement, "Hey mom" and maybe, "Hey dad..., I do what I want to do and screw you...!" What's enlightening in that statement? Kids have been expressing similar views for years and most families have adequate sanctions to control the situation. Those that don't are either going to lose their children to the street or public intervention may be the order of the day.
What part of rehabilitation is really taking place? Family rehabilitation has failed, probation has failed, now an unsecured rehabilitation facility as failed! It is time provide money and secure our "countywide" youth detention facilities regardless of the county of commitment and then pursue rehabilitation.
Facilities like Camp Glenwood and Log Cabin Ranch are too remote to provide significant rehabilitation to a ward of the court and their family. If the family is not involved in weekly group and conjoint group counseling with oversight by a psychologist and counseling staff, not much is really going to change for families-in-need. These rehabilitation facilities need to be placed closer to the service population, not 40 miles out of town and out of public sight! These kids can be lost in a heartbeat by accident, getting lost or maintaining their continued criminal activity that endangers the community.
Parents should be ordered by the court to attend these counseling programs or the ward should not be place at these facilities. We know with some certainty, that family reunification is the expected norm and inmates will return to the same environment that brought them to the courts attention!
For now, our county needs rehabilitation by double fencing our youth service facilities and add staffing and programs that provide active participation and set aside or reduce passive programs using modules that are presented through television and self-help courses. It is time to also insist that other counties maintain their facilities in a secure, well lighted and well supervised way; better yet, they should be provided within their own county where the families reside. I recommend that these facilities be closed until correction action occurs and a yearly county audit and compliance review be undertaken. This should be measured so to determing their successes and failure against a cost benefit to the taxpayers. That also means establishing an ongoing longitutional study using old and current records of the inmates placed at the detention facilities to see where they are today and follow up on the present population!