Idaho Juvenile Detention Centers

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The state of Idaho has several juvenile facilities run by both the state (Department of Juvenile Corrections, DJC) and the county. The two largest county run facilities are the Ada County Juvenile Detention Center and the Canyon County Juvenile Detention Center. They are similar to adult jails with cells and Bob Barker prison clothing and supplies. The state run programs are programs to which a judge may "commit" a juvenile if he finds it to be best. After a juvenile has been committed they stay for about seven days in the detention center of their county, and then depending on the region in which they live they are transported either to a building called JCC Nampa which contains Observation and Assessment (OnA is what the residents and most other people call JCC Nampa) which is located in Nampa, Idaho, JCC Lewiston which is located in the city of Lewiston, Idaho or JCC St. Anthonys which is located in the city of St. Anthonys, Idaho. After a juvenile goes to OnA they are sent to the state run program deemed best for them.

1 Ada County
2 Canyon County
3 Other county run facilities
4 JCC Nampa, Observation and Assessment
5 The Idaho Youth Ranch Campus
6 5-C (Five County)
7 St. Anthony’s Campus
8 Choices
9 Three Springs
10 Other state run and contracted facilities
11 References
12 Notes

[edit] Ada County

Ada County is a county run facility.

The center in Ada County has cells with single rooms which include a thin mattress, a pillow, a metal sink which is connected to a metal toilet, 2 sheets and 2 blankets, 1 pillow and pillow case, a small vent and a small window which is positioned to be difficult to see through but to allow light inside. Once you arrive to the Ada county center you are pat searched and logged into the system, then you get a strip search if you have been there before (although the guards, called staff, do not touch you they look at you naked to ensure no contraband comes in.) Immediately after the strip search you are given a few minutes to shower, and then are issued a pair of blue Bob Barker pants, a green Bob Barker Tee Shirt, and red or green Bob barker sandals, in addition to white velcrow shoes for gym time, and also white socks and generic white boxers. If you are placed on a suicide watch your issued items are very different. Then you are escorted to your cell which is about four locked doors away from the entrance room. In your cell you get a small paper cup, a small cup of toothpaste, a comb, a small bar of Bob Barker soap, and two books or magazines, and at your choice a religious book is offered as an additional book, in which case you may have two books or magazines and one religious book. When you first go to your room there is nothing in it but a thin green fire proof mattress, but they will give you clean bedding before you get there. During the booking process juveniles are given a handbook with the rules that they are expected to follow. Failure to follow these rules may result in discipline.

[edit] Canyon County

Canyon County is a county run facility.

The Canyon County Detention Center is similar to the Ada County Detention Center but is more restrictive and has a much larger gang population and more violence. Ada County has a smaller gang population and although this has lead to many fights it is not as big a part of the center at Ada County as it is in Canyon County.

[edit] Other county run facilities

Idaho has several smaller juvenile detentions, but the one in Canyon County and the one in Ada County are the largest of them. Additional and smaller juvenile detention facilities are located in Coeur d'Alene, Minidoka, Twin Falls, Lewiston and various other cities in Idaho.

[edit] JCC Nampa, Observation and Assessment

Observation and Assessment is a state run facility^[1].

OnA is different from a detention center in a few ways. You continue to get a private cell, but the way the cell is designed is different. It has a polished metal mirror bolted to the wall of each cell, and a porcelain sink and toilet combo which has a different design than the ones at most detention centers in Idaho. Also some of the doors at OnA are made of thick wood instead of metal. Besides for these differences however the facility looks similar to a standard Idaho Detention Center. OnA is where all juveniles who get committed go, so it is a mixing pot of people with various types of crimes. Some common crimes are Armed Robbery, Gang related assaults, drug possession and distribution, rape, child molestation, aggravated assault, assault on an officer, "Drive Bys", burglary, and less commonly habitual offenders who have not committed very serious crimes but whom committed less severe crimes frequently. The ages at OnA range from around twelve to around seventeen, much less commonly an older or younger person may end up at OnA however. When Juveniles are at OnA they receive a battery of tests which assess their risk level. They are also under constant observation of staff and are logged on 24/7. After being at OnA for about one month juveniles are given a ICLA and/or a PAR which is a form of Risk Assessment^[2]. Depending on the ICLA/PAR level of the juvenile, availability of facilities and location of the juveniles home they are then sent to a "Rehabilitation Program."

[edit] The Idaho Youth Ranch Campus

The Idaho Youth Ranch is a public facility which is contracted with the state of Idaho.^[3]

The Idaho Youth Ranch Campus is a large facility located in Rupert Idaho.^[3] The Idaho Youth Ranch used to use a PPC (Positive Peer Culture) style of programming but has recently switched over to an Equip type of programming. At the Idaho Youth Ranch juveniles learn T-FAC skills, which stands for thinking for a change and is designed to help juveniles think about their actions before they commit them. They also have a generic drug and alcohol class but it is not as in-depth as those of programs specific to drug users. They also go through Equip programming, which consists of Anger Management classes, Social skills classes, and classes where the juveniles report their problems and also report the problems of the other juveniles in the facility. Juveniles at the Youth Ranch also partake in community "off-ranch" activities, and in raising animals and moving heavy bails of hay and watering the fields on the ranch. The juveniles are paid for all the work they do. The average stay at the youth Ranch campus is six to nine months, and most juveniles leave with several hundred dollars. During a juveniles stay at the Youth Ranch they will leave the ranch campus frequently both to do community service and to go on passes into the community. Juveniles at the Youth Ranch shower individually in a stall.

[edit] 5-C (Five County)

Five County is a county run facility that contracts with the state of Idaho and the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Five County, better known as 5-C, is a detention center, rehabilitation program, and Federal Bureau of Prisons holding center located in St. Anthony’s. It has a design and cells which are very similar to a jail with multiple cellmates in each room and a shared toilet in most of the cells. It has a fence with barbed and razor wire stretched across the top of it, and has several locked metal doors through out the building. Five County runs the same treatment program as the Youth Ranch Campus does (A mixture of T-FAC and Equip) but it has additional MRT drug and alcohol abuse classes. 5-C is for very high risk to medium high risk juveniles. 5-C mixes federally charged prisoners under the age of twenty-one with state committed individuals under the age of twenty-one. 5-C also has a separate jail section for the local juvenile delinquents who are imprisoned only temporarily on a county level. The county juveniles in 5-C have virtually no contact with the state and federal juveniles and are all under the age of eighteen. 5-C has a very high level of gang activity but a relatively low level of reported physical assaults. 5-C has virtually no contraband or drugs as it has very high security, although on occasion drugs are smuggled in. 5-C runs on a phase system, and state committed juveniles on higher phases that demonstrate good behavior can sometimes leave the facility to do community service. State juveniles nearing the end of their stay who are on high phases may sometimes leave the building on community passes for brief periods of time. On much rarer occasions federally charged juveniles can leave the facility to do community service, but in order for this to happen the staff on duty often are required to be armed. Juveniles at 5-C shower in groups of three in a small room but they have an amount of privacy provided to them by the design of the shower room. The average stay for a state committed juvenile at 5-C is nine months to one year, the average stay for a federally imprisoned inmate varies tremendously but is approximately two years (Although very rarely will the imprisoned juvenile stay at 5-C for their full time.) Occasionally a federally imprisoned juvenile will go to 5-C who has over twenty years of time left to serve.

[edit] St. Anthony’s Campus

St. Anthony's is a state run facility^[1].

St. Anthony’s campus is located in the town of St. Anthony’s and is for higher risk Juveniles. It is the largest^[1] state run youth correctional facility in the state of Idaho with over one hundred youth incarcerated in its borders. St. Anthony’s has no fences and the campus is set up with several small cottages. Each cottage holds one or more groups of up to twelve juveniles. The St. Anthony’s program uses a PPC^[1] (Positive Peer Culture) style of programming and also teaches T-FAC classes. St. Anthony’s has a drug treatment program but it is fairly generic and not one of the better ones in the state. St. Anthony’s has one cottage which is dedicated to sex offenders. At St. Anthony’s the juveniles in most cottages shower as a full group of up to twelve. One exception to this is in the sex offender cottage where juveniles shower individually. St. Anthony’s is the only state run program in the state of Idaho in which juveniles are both allowed and encouraged to physically restrain the other juveniles if they become uncooperative (Although this happens at many other programs it is only allowed to happen at St. Anthony’s.) St. Anthony’s has a broad mixture of juveniles, but it has a significant level of gang activity (varies depending on the individual cottage). St. Anthony’s rarely has contraband or drugs smuggled into it. Juveniles at St. Anthony’s frequently leave the campus as a group for community service but virtually never leave the campus for individual community passes. The average stay at St. Anthony’s is approximately eighteen months.

[edit] Choices

Choices is a state run facility.

Choices is located in the same building as Observation and Assessment, in Nampa Idaho. Choices is a program which often focuses on juveniles who have very serious drug and alcohol problems and a wide range of risk levels, although the average juvenile in Choices often has a medium to high risk level. Choices does not use the PPC or EQUIP style of programming but rather uses a unique mixture of T-FAC, TASC (Thinking And Self Change)and Hazelden drug and alcohol rehabilitation books. Choices used to do RSAT programming but no longer receives funding. Choices focuses almost exclusively on drug and alcohol problems and the vast majority of programming at the Choices facility reflects this. Choices is made up of three groups which are housed in three different pods. Each pod has up to twelve juveniles in it, and choices can hold a total of thirty-six juveniles. The three pods are divided into twelve cells each. The cells at Choices are very similar to the cells at Observation and Assessment, but only about one third of them have private toilets and sinks located in the cells. The other juveniles use a shared community toilet. Choices has a significant level of gang related activity and has had illegal drugs used with in its borders on several occasions. Choices uses a level system and juveniles who achieve a high level are allowed to leave the program on community passes. Showers at Choices are done three juveniles at a time in a small shower room, but a small amount of privacy is allowed due to the design of the room. The average stay at Choices is nine months to a year but occasionally juveniles will stay for as long as eighteen months. Choices once received government funding called RSAT which would not allow a juvenile to stay longer than one year, but Choices no longer receives this funding and now juveniles can stay for over one year of time.

[edit] Three Springs

Three Springs is a program for (often nonviolent) sexual offenders and is located in Mountain Home.

[edit] Other state run and contracted facilities

Brown Schools/Loral Ridge (Contracted by Idaho located in Texas) (Predominantly for sex offenders and juveniles with violent anger problems.)

Discovery House: (Located in Nampa and part of the Idaho Youth Ranch. Is a group home for lower risk juveniles.)^[4]

Emancipation Home: ^[5] (A part of the Idaho youth Ranch for low risk juveniles who are age sixteen or older and need to learn independent living skills so that they can live on their own after they are released from programming. Located in Boise. Average stay is six months.

Family Table: A part of the Idaho Youth Ranch with facilities in Meridian and Eagle.

3-B: A facility which also contains a detention center. Has a drug and alcohol program.

Intermountain: Also a mental hospital, juveniles are rarely committed to this facility.

Patriot Center: Used to be contracted by the IDJC but is no longer.

Juvenile Corrections Center Lewiston: A lockdown facility located in the northern Idaho city of Lewiston. Often has juveniles with anger problems stay for programming. Also an OnA like program.