J.I.T. OUTREACH PROGRAM: Housing Strategies

The Mission:

We are seeking to help them strive Educationally, Economically, Politically, to build Social Development Skills, Organizational Skills and Unity. And if we use these six (6) elements I just mentioned as a guiding light, we believe that they will grow and develop into our future leaders of tomorrow. In the visions of this program and through this programs’ vision they’ll become a reckoning force of power beyond boundaries and without measures. If they trust, look, listen, and learn to see everything placed before them in its entire form, and to that all they have to do is keep their eyes, ears, and mind open and they will learn. All they have to do is use everything they have learned from our program to gain an advantage in life. With the concept of the five (5) P’s, which is our motto and stands for: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. Thus, meaning if we Properly Prepare them for the future we can Prevent Poor Performance in their lives--by giving them stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks--and that poor performance is being involved in drugs, guns, robberies, and several other crimes and mishaps and going in and out of jail. So, we are asking you, the parents and community, to lend a helping hand in making the J.I.T. Outreach Program a success and impact in giving our children a chance to live an auspicious, propitious, and fortunate future!!

Our main focus is helping these juveniles to seek a better path in life other than that of the streets; but in order to do so; we’ll need the help of those juveniles’ parents. If we show them Love, Life, Loyalty, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding, we believe that we can capture their way of thinking at an early stage in life, we can help mold them into our future Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, Police Officers, Fire Fighters, Governors, Senators, Contractors, etc. As we all know, it takes a village to raise child, and with the help of the parents and community, J.I.T Outreach Program will become that village. Even though I was once one of those juveniles involved in the street life, drugs and guns, I have made a major turn-around in my life and I am willing to help these juveniles make that same turn-around in life that I made through my experience. By being a positive role-model and being heavily involved with the children and their families to help keep them from making those same mistakes that I made or end up in one or two places that nobody wants to be: Jail or the Graveyard!!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Housing Strategies

Many jurisdictions would benefit from an assessment of the type of housing that is most effective for managing this population. For example, the cost and benefits of separating youthful offenders from adult offenders should be examined. Given their relatively small numbers, cost-effective options for this type of separation should be developed. Because most youthful offenders are managed in dormitory facilities, the specific management issues relevant to this housing arrangement should be fully explicated. Given that the volatility and impulsiveness that typically underlies a juvenile’s presence in an adult facility can be contagious, correctional systems would benefit from technical assistance focused on strategies for mitigating these situations. Further, best practices associated with appropriate interaction between juvenile and adult offender populations would help increase institutional stability.

Continued Research

Finally, given the relative newness of this issue and the lack of knowledge surrounding the conditions, impact, and consequences of juvenile incarceration in adult facilities, additional research is required. In particular, research is needed to better understand the basis for the decision to place a youth in an adult correctional facility. We also need to learn whether placement in an adult facility has an adverse impact on the conditions of incarceration. Comparative studies are required on the provision of education and vocational services, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, and medical needs as well as protection from harm in juvenile andadult facilities. Such comparative studies will help determine the value of housing youth in adult prisons and jails. If such placements are required by law, adult facilities must know how to create appropriate program offerings and standards of care for youth placed in their care for substantial periods of time.

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This represents the most thorough examination to date of the issues presented by youth who are incarcerated in adult facilities. The findings include the following:

1. Approximately 107,000 youth (younger than 18) are incarcerated on any given day.

2. Of these, approximately 14,500 are housed in adult facilities. The largest proportions, approximately 9,100 youth, are housed in local jails, & some 5,400 youth are housed in adult prisons.

3. Of the 50 states & the District of Columbia, 44 house juveniles (age 17 & younger) in adult jails & prisons.

4. In recent years, the number of youth in jails has escalated, while the number in prisons has stabilized or declined.

5. The actual number of youth who experience incarceration in an adult prison is much higher than the number shown by a 1-day count, with an estimated 13,876 juvenile state prison admissions in 1997. There are no current estimates of the number of youth admitted to jails each year.

6. In terms of their legal status while incarcerated, 21% were held as adjudicated juvenile offenders or pretrial detainees, & 75% were sentenced as adults.

7. Of the 44 state prison systems that house juveniles as adults, 18 states maintain designated youthful offender housing units.

8. In comparison with the adult prison population, a higher proportion of youth were black (55% of youthful inmates versus 48% of adult inmates) and were convicted of a crime against persons (57 % of youth versus 44% of adult inmates).

9. The vast majority of these youth are age 17 (79%) or age 16 (18%).

10. Approximately 51% of the youthful offender population were housed in dormitory settings, 30% in single cells and 19% in double cells.

11. Health, education, and counseling programs were fairly standard, with little evidence of efforts to customize programs for youthful offenders. A few states operate programs specifically for the most difficult to manage juveniles.