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The JDAI Communication Pipeline
JDAI Weekly News Digest - Vol. 3

Ensuring the Right Youth, is in the Right Place, for the Right Reasons.
In this issue of the JDAI Communication Pipeline you will find: If you would like to include information in future editions of the The JDAI Communication Pipeline, please send an email to jdai@state.ma.us

Exploring the Core Strategy of
Conditions of Confinement 


Hello JDAI Massachusetts –

We hope this finds you in good health. Welcome to Volume 3 of our weekly newsletter – Exploring the Core Strategy of Conditions of Confinement. Here we’ll dive into a brief synopsis of the history of this strategy, we'll provide an overview of the objective standards, and we'll link to resources for an opportunity to learn more. Conditions of confinement is a lesser-discussed, but essential strategy within Massachusetts’ JDAI work. The strategy of assessing and improving conditions of confinement, according to objective standards, first asks us to consider the notion of “My Child”. The Annie E. Casey Foundation explains the “My Child” principle in this way: “If my child was in the Juvenile Justice System – in court, on probation, in secure confinement, any place in the system – how would I want my child to be treated?”
 
The Massachusetts Department of Youth Services has received positive attention around its implementation of policies and practices to reduce room confinement – one part of the full strategy of addressing conditions of confinement. A recent report (June 2019) titled, Not in Isolation – How to Reduce Room Confinement While Increasing Safety in Youth Facilities showcases a handful of states across the nation that are reducing room confinement effectively, Massachusetts is one of them. (Massachusetts’ section starts on page 34. It is full of data, insights into moving the department policies forward and DYS’s behavior management philosophy.) Stop Solitary for Kids and its agency partners produced the report. Stop Solitary for Kids is a national campaign to end solitary confinement of youth in juvenile and adult facilities in the United States. The campaign is a joint effort by the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators, and the Justice Policy Institute.
 
 In 1994 the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention completed a comprehensive national study of detention conditions within juvenile facilities across the nation. Deplorable conditions were noted in many of the reports, conditions such as crowding, frequent escapes, injuries, gaps in suicide prevention plans, sluggish health screenings. In response, the Annie E. Casey Foundation commissioned the Youth Law Center to assess conditions in JDAI sites. They were to develop a tool to guide sites in bringing facilities up to constitutionally sound conditions, while helping them develop the best detention centers possible. As JDAI grew and the demand for facility assessments followed, the Youth Law Center and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy teamed up to design locally based assessments, and dedicated some of its bandwidth to training up local teams to conduct the assessments using objective standards. The local teams are critical to conducing the facility assessment, one because they provide the people power, and two because they are comprised of invested people within the community. It is recommended that JDAI sites complete facility assessments every two years.
 
The objective standards were first outlined in Volume 6 of Pathways to Juvenile Detention Reform, and have been updated several times since. The latest update includes Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards, federal requirements for language for youth with limited English proficiency, protection for the rights of youth with disabilities, collection of LGBTQ data, elimination of the term isolation, and prohibiting room confinement for discipline.

The standards are organized under the following categories presented as this mnemonic device: CHAPTERS (please note that in some cases, the standards are guided or constrained by a state’s case law or departmental policies).
  • Classification & Intake – 110 standards (examples include: population management; classification decisions)
  • Health and Mental Health Care – 226 standards (examples include: suicide prevention and response; medical services)
  • Access – 50 standards (examples include: phone calls; family engagement)
  • Programming – 97 standards (examples include: education, positive behavior intervention and support)
  • Training and Supervision of Staff – 109 standards (examples include: reports of abuse, neglect, retaliation; staffing)
  • Environment – 138 standards (examples include: positive institutional atmosphere, sanitation; food)
  • Restraints – 141 standards (examples include: room confinement, due process and discipline)
  • Safety – 53 standards (examples include: youth safety; staff safety; investigations)
You can learn more on JDAI Connect. Search "Facility Assessment" or "Conditions of Confinement" to dig into the resources. 

What's Next for Massachusetts' Conditions of Confinement Work


 Massachusetts JDAI participated in Annie E. Casey’s Conditions of Confinement convening during November of 2019. The purpose of the convening was to assess what is and is not working regarding the updated conditions of confinement. National organizations advancing the work of conditions of confinement educated participants on existing best practices for carrying out conditions work. The convening resulted in a road map of recommendations for JDAI’s conditions improvement strategy. Massachusetts will continue to play an active role as the JDAI conditions improvement strategy is developed.
 
In 2018 JDAI conducted focus groups with system involved young adults. In their reflections of the system young people highlighted concerns related to transportation and facilities. The young people in Massachusetts will pay a vital role in the development of JDAI's conditions improvement strategy.

Tell Us What You Think!


1. In what other places where are youth confined should we consider using objective measures to assess the conditions?
  • Holding cells at court
  • Transportation
  • Shackling policies
  • None
  • Other
2. CHAPTERS – what would you emphasize, why?
                                      
3. Has the COVID-19 epidemic spurred any necessary additions to these standards? What additions are necessary?

Click here to share your thoughts. 

JDAI Massachusetts seeks to ensure that the Right Youth, is in the Right Place, for the Right Reasons.  
For more information about JDAI please visit our website at www.mass.gov/jdai 

Copyright © 2020 JDAI Massachusetts, All rights reserved.


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