NCJ Number
190666
Date Published
2001
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This section of the "Strategic Planning Master Notebook" outlines the conditions set by a Federal Court for the reform of Emerald County's Juvenile Detention Center and presents the required county juvenile detention data and information.
Abstract
Crowding in Emerald County's Juvenile Detention Center has produced conditions so dangerous, unhealthy, and out of compliance with generally accepted professional standards that public-interest attorneys from the Center Opposed to Negotiated Settlements (CONS) sued the County for operating a constitutionally infirm facility. After hearing evidence on a motion for a preliminary injunction, the Federal District Court judge agreed, with the consent of the CONS's attorneys, to withhold the preliminary injunction based upon a new Emerald County promise to submit a population-reduction plan within 60 days. The plan must bring the average daily population under rated capacity 4 months after its submission. The judge's order requires that designated County leaders must endorse the population-reduction plan; that the population-reduction plan cannot rely primarily on "emergency release" actions; that it must represent a reasonable effort to integrate policy, program, and practice changes that can produce sustainable reductions based on justifiable systemic modifications; and that the plan cannot be based on expanded detention bed capacity (short-term changes are required). The plan must also be sufficiently data-driven so that the court can determine the potential bed-reduction impact of the various strategies the County proposes. Further, the plan must reduce the population in the facility by 55 percent. The structure and rules for the detention simulation plan are provided. Data and information are presented on Emerald County's pre-dispositional detention, post-dispositional sentencing to detention, detention alternatives, and the County budget.