Staff and Staff Training

The need for meaningful training of adult security staff on techniques for managing youthful offenders was apparent during most of the site visits. Typically, security staff are oriented and trained to deal with adult inmates. Training should prepare staff to recognize and respond to the particular issues faced by a juvenile offender housed in an adult prison, such as the potential for victimization, the emotional effect of incarceration on younger populations, and the way in which substance abuse, education, health, and mental health needs are manifested among younger offenders. This training would be particularly useful for states that have facilities designated for youthful offenders.

Along these lines, it is recommended that adult facilities that house youthful offenders be staffed with people experienced in working in juvenile facilities. These staff are more accustomed to the non-confrontational methods used to control youth that rely less on use of force techniques and more on peaceful conflict resolution.

Staff in adult facilities are trained to respond to disruptive and confrontational adult offenders. The use of chemical agents such as mace or pepper spray, forced cell extractions, physical restraints, and special response teams, although typically effective with adult offenders, may not be appropriate for juvenile populations. Most juvenile correctional systems discourage the use of such techniques as viable methods of controlling youth except in the most extreme situations, and even then only when lesser measures have been exhausted. Physical handling of a youth is permitted only when other measures, such a counseling and crisis intervention techniques, have failed. For such instances, officers are trained on a myriad of other measures such as empty-hand control tactics, which include various holds, leverage, pressure, self-defense measures, and pressure control techniques.

Adult facilities require assistance and training in devising such techniques that do not rely upon a massive use of force yet are effective in deescalating volatile incidents involving youthful offenders.

Classification Systems

The traditional classification instruments developed for and used with adult correctional populations do not take into account the special needs or the maturation issues presented by youthful offenders. Prison classification systems have been developed and validated on adult male populations and are not sensitive to the unique attributes and behaviors of youthful populations. These classification systems consist of both external and internal models.

External classification systems are used to determine whether an inmate should be placed in the general population or assigned to a special management unit. The latter consists of protective custody, administrative segregation, mental health, and medical care units. The former results in a designation of minimum, medium, close, or maximum custody. Assessments are also made on the types of programs or treatment services the inmate should participate in. Based on the custody and program/treatment needs, a determination is made on the most appropriate facility to which to transfer the inmate.

One suggestion is for adult correctional systems either to use classification systems that have been developed by the state’s juvenile correctional agency or to develop their own system to be used for youth committed to their care. Such a classification system should be capable of assessing each youth with respect to their risk to public safety, institutional conduct, and specific program needs in the areas of mental health, substance abuse, education, vocational training, and medical care.

In addition to this type of an external classification assessment, an internal classification system needs to be established for each facility that houses these youth to ensure youthful offenders are not improperly housed with adult inmates. Such an internal system would consist of a plan that limits the housing units into which a youthful offender can be placed and the types of programs in which a youthful offender can participate within that facility.

Alternative Strategies and Technical Assistance

This report focuses on identifying the extent and characteristics of the youthful offender populations currently incarcerated in adult facilities and on documenting their conditions of confinement. These findings suggest that the phenomenon of youthful offender incarceration in adult correctional facilities is a burgeoning issue in many correctional systems across the nation. Correctional administrators need alternative strategies to address the issues associated with managing young offenders in an adult correctional environment while responding to their unique needs with developmentally appropriate programming. The following recommendations are offered for further research and present suggested topic areas in which the Bureau of Justice Assistance and other public and private agencies should be prepared to establish standards and to provide technical assistance to correctional agencies responsible for managing this growing population.