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Garza County Regional Juvenile Center, Garza County, Texas
July 29, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Executives of the Colorado-based Cornerstone Programs Corp., which
manages the Garza County Regional Juvenile Center in West Texas, have a history
of involvement in troubled juvenile facilities in other states. Cornerstone
closed its Swan Valley Youth Academy in 2006 after a Montana State
Department of Public Health and Human Services investigation found 19
violations, including neglect and failure to report child abuse and an
attempted suicide. "Intake process was particularly harmful to youth,
and many have been made to vomit due to excessive exercise and drinking
large amounts of water," Montana officials wrote in their findings.
According to Montana officials, the state and Cornerstone had developed a
corrective plan to keep the facility open. "There was
a number of charges of abuse filed against the director of the
program and the second in charge," said Cornerstone chief executive
Joseph Newman. The bad press hurt business and so it closed, he said. Mr.
Newman said state officials later cleared them of all the abuse charges,
but Montana officials said they had no record of that. In Texas,
Cornerstone's Garza facility has been put under corrective action plans to
improve staff training, documenting grievances and group therapy sessions.
But the company has hired a new director and added new staff to Garza,
which it began managing in 2003. In 2005, a 17-year-old inmate at the
facility became paralyzed after falling on his head in an attempt to do a
back flip off a table. A lawsuit by his family against the facility,
settled in 2006, alleged that a guard not only failed to prevent the stunt,
but challenged the youth to attempt it. The officer was fired after the
incident. The Garza County facility consistently has received positive
reviews by the Texas Youth Commission. "The Garza County Regional
Juvenile Center is an exemplary program," a TYC monitor wrote in the
facility's 2006 contract renewal evaluation – the same year Swan Valley
closed. Cornerstone was founded in October 1998 by Mr. Newman and board
chairman Jane O'Shaughnessy, about six months after another company they
operated ran into trouble in Colorado. That other company, called Rebound,
operated the High Plains Youth Center in Brush, Colo., which housed
juvenile offenders from around the country. In December 1995, a University
of Illinois at Chicago psychologist hired by the state's Department of
Children and Family Services issued a damning report on High Plains, and
the agency later began removing its youth from the juvenile prison.
"Unit staffing practices appear to be a numbers game where management
attempts to balance the competing pressures of safety and profit," wrote
Dr. Ronald Davidson, a faculty member in the university's psychiatry
department. The facility also had a "consistent and disturbing pattern
of violence, sexual abuse, clinical malpractice and administrative
incompetence at every level of the program." A Human Rights Watch
report later found that High Plains "fell short of reasonable, even
minimal, performance." Colorado officials closed High Plains in 1998
after a 13-year-old inmate from Utah committed suicide and a state
investigation found widespread problems with physical and sexual abuse.
State officials also had uncovered problems at other Rebound facilities in
Colorado. Rebound's nonprofit Adventures in Change program did not meet
requirements to be licensed for drug and alcohol treatment nor meet
"acceptable standards for habitation," according to a 1996 state
audit. Auditors said the services, such as education, family counseling,
vocational training and employment, "are not routinely provided."
In his resignation letter as the facility's clinical coordinator, Paul
Schmitz wrote: "This is no longer a professional treatment environment
... and is not supported by the company as such." In 1997, Florida
officials severed the state's contract with Rebound to operate the Cypress
Creek juvenile detention facility after repeated problems, including
reports of disturbances that led to the arrests of several inmates for
inciting a riot. Rebound also had operated in Maryland, where it ran the
Charles H. Hickey Jr. School briefly in the early 1990s. Mr. Newman was the
deputy secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services from 1992 to
1994, according to the state. He joined Rebound in 1995. The Hickey
contract ended in 1993 after dozens of escapes, cases of alleged abuse and
other policy violations. Dr. Davidson, the Illinois psychologist, said the
past performance of Cornerstone and Rebound should raise concerns.
"Anyone who had bothered to check the record of this corporation in
Colorado and Florida and Maryland ..... would have
easily discovered a troubling history of incompetence and
fecklessness," he said.
High Plains Youth Academy,
Brush, Colorado
July 29, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Executives of the Colorado-based Cornerstone Programs Corp., which
manages the Garza County Regional Juvenile Center in West Texas, have a
history of involvement in troubled juvenile facilities in other states.
Cornerstone closed its Swan Valley Youth Academy in 2006 after a Montana
State Department of Public Health and Human Services investigation found 19
violations, including neglect and failure to report child abuse and an
attempted suicide. "Intake process was particularly harmful to youth,
and many have been made to vomit due to excessive exercise and drinking
large amounts of water," Montana officials wrote in their findings.
According to Montana officials, the state and Cornerstone had developed a
corrective plan to keep the facility open. "There was
a number of charges of abuse filed against the director of the
program and the second in charge," said Cornerstone chief executive Joseph
Newman. The bad press hurt business and so it closed, he said. Mr. Newman
said state officials later cleared them of all the abuse charges, but
Montana officials said they had no record of that. In Texas, Cornerstone's
Garza facility has been put under corrective action plans to improve staff
training, documenting grievances and group therapy sessions. But the
company has hired a new director and added new staff to Garza, which it
began managing in 2003. In 2005, a 17-year-old inmate at the facility became
paralyzed after falling on his head in an attempt to do a back flip off a
table. A lawsuit by his family against the facility, settled in 2006,
alleged that a guard not only failed to prevent the stunt, but challenged
the youth to attempt it. The officer was fired after the incident. The
Garza County facility consistently has received positive reviews by the
Texas Youth Commission. "The Garza County Regional Juvenile Center is
an exemplary program," a TYC monitor wrote in the facility's 2006
contract renewal evaluation – the same year Swan Valley closed. Cornerstone
was founded in October 1998 by Mr. Newman and board chairman Jane
O'Shaughnessy, about six months after another company they operated ran
into trouble in Colorado. That other company, called Rebound, operated the
High Plains Youth Center in Brush, Colo., which housed juvenile offenders
from around the country. In December 1995, a University of Illinois at
Chicago psychologist hired by the state's Department of Children and Family
Services issued a damning report on High Plains, and the agency later began
removing its youth from the juvenile prison. "Unit staffing practices
appear to be a numbers game where management attempts to balance the
competing pressures of safety and profit," wrote Dr. Ronald Davidson,
a faculty member in the university's psychiatry department. The facility
also had a "consistent and disturbing pattern of violence, sexual
abuse, clinical malpractice and administrative incompetence at every level
of the program." A Human Rights Watch report later found that High
Plains "fell short of reasonable, even minimal, performance."
Colorado officials closed High Plains in 1998 after a 13-year-old inmate
from Utah committed suicide and a state investigation found widespread
problems with physical and sexual abuse. State officials also had uncovered
problems at other Rebound facilities in Colorado. Rebound's nonprofit
Adventures in Change program did not meet requirements to be licensed for
drug and alcohol treatment nor meet "acceptable standards for
habitation," according to a 1996 state audit. Auditors said the
services, such as education, family counseling, vocational training and
employment, "are not routinely provided." In his resignation
letter as the facility's clinical coordinator, Paul Schmitz wrote:
"This is no longer a professional treatment environment ... and is not
supported by the company as such." In 1997, Florida officials severed
the state's contract with Rebound to operate the Cypress Creek juvenile
detention facility after repeated problems, including reports of
disturbances that led to the arrests of several inmates for inciting a
riot. Rebound also had operated in Maryland, where it ran the Charles H.
Hickey Jr. School briefly in the early 1990s. Mr. Newman was the deputy
secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services from 1992 to 1994,
according to the state. He joined Rebound in 1995. The Hickey contract
ended in 1993 after dozens of escapes, cases of alleged abuse and other
policy violations. Dr. Davidson, the Illinois psychologist, said the past
performance of Cornerstone and Rebound should raise concerns. "Anyone
who had bothered to check the record of this corporation in Colorado and
Florida and Maryland ..... would have easily
discovered a troubling history of incompetence and fecklessness," he
said.
Natrona County Juvenile Detention
Center, Natrona County, Wyoming
September 6, 2008 Casper Times-Tribune
The Wyoming Department of Family Services may provide a
"Band-aid" fix for Cornerstone Programs, Inc., so the private
corrections company can continue running the Natrona County Juvenile
Detention Center. Cornerstone has been steadily losing money since it took
control of JDC operations in March because of dwindling inmate populations.
In the last two months alone, the company has sustained more than $70,000
in operational losses alone. In a conference call Thursday that included
the county commission, Cornerstone representatives, officials from DFS and
Sheriff Mark Benton, DFS Director Tony Lewis suggested that there may be a
way to subsidize the company's losses with state grant money for at least a
few months until the situation becomes more certain. Using a company that
works on an average daily payment for each juvenile incarcerated may not be
the best decision in the future, he said, if only because DFS plans to send
fewer kids for the foreseeable future. According to DFS records,
Cornerstone is making about $20,000 less per month because of the
department's policy to send fewer juveniles. "If we're using detention
the right way, the numbers aren't going to support the contract at a good
level," he said. "I think it's a mistake to create a system where
you need a quandry of kids for a private company
to make money. It was a good investment to go to the kind of standards that
Cornerstone has brought, but it's not going to be a money-making
endeavor." Numbers are down across the state, he added. The number of
juveniles at the JDC from counties such as Converse and Niobrara in
December 2007 starkly contrasts with the number in August 2008.
August 28, 2008 Casper Star-Tribune
Cornerstone Programs, Inc., the private corrections company charged with
running the Natrona County Juvenile Detention Center, may have to terminate
its yet-to-be-signed contract with the county because of financial
difficulties, the company's CEO Joseph Newman told county commissioners
Thursday. "The drain has been significant, to the point where it has
had a huge impact on our cash flow, and, quite frankly, if the conditions
continue, we won't be able to support the operation," he said. Low
inmate population has caused the relatively small business to lose large
sums of money over about a six-month period, something the company can't
sustain for long, he said. For Cornerstone to break even on operations, the
JDC must hold an average of 25 juveniles per day. The average number of
inmates over the past month has been 18, with a one-day high of 24 inmates.
In July, the company lost about $40,000 in operational costs alone, and
expects that August will see about a $35,000 loss. At the current rate of
loss, Newman said, the company can't afford to run the facility for more
than another month or so. While an exact explanation for the decrease in
population isn't available, Gary Miller, chief operating officer for
Cornerstone, said the Department of Family Services is placing fewer than
half the number of juveniles in the facility than it had over the last five
years. "There does seem to be a reluctance on
their part to refer kids," Miller said.
Salt Lake Valley Detention Center, Salt
Lake, Nevada
September 17, 2008 Deseret News
A California-based company that previously ran a Salt Lake juvenile
detention facility for 11 years is suing the state of Utah after a new
five-year contract was awarded to another firm. Cornell Corrections of
California, which does business as Abraxas Youth
and Family Services, recently filed a lawsuit in 3rd District Court
requesting that the decision regarding the multimillion-dollar contract be
overturned and that Abraxas get the new contract
instead. Abraxas alleges that the decision-making
process used by the Utah Department of Human Services and other state
agencies in awarding the contract was "arbitrary and capricious"
and was "clearly erroneous." In fiscal year 2008, the budget for
the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center was about $3.8 million, according to
Liz Sollis, DHS public information officer. Abraxas in the latest round of bidding submitted a
proposal containing a budget of approximately $5.2 million for fiscal year
2009, Sollis said. Meanwhile, Cornerstone
Programs Corp. submitted a proposal that had a budget of about $4.4 million
for fiscal year 2009. Cornerstone, based in Centennial, Colo., has operated
the 60-bed Farmington Bay Juvenile Detention Facility in Davis County since
1995. Sollis did not comment on the litigation.
However, she said contract proposals are initially reviewed by DHS and then
referred to the state's Department of Administrative Services Division of
Purchasing and General Services for final decisions. The Salt Lake Valley
Detention Center is a 160-bed locked facility for juveniles
ages 10-18 who are being held temporarily until their cases are resolved in
court or DHS can find another place for them. While in the center, the
young people receive a variety of services, including such things as
schooling, medical and dental care, psychological help and other
assistance. The center at 3450 S. 900 West is owned by the state, but
services are provided through contracts with other organizations. The
lawsuit said there were 4,190 admissions to the center during fiscal year
2007. Abraxas said in its suit that it had
operated the center successfully and DHS recently gave it a 100 percent
rating. "Cornerstone received 164 points for its proposal, while Abraxas received 161.22 points for its proposal.
Because the scoring was so close, even a minor error in the scoring process
would have resulted in Abraxas being awarded the
contract," the lawsuit said. When notified that Cornerstone was
getting the contract instead, Abraxas filed a
protest with the state making several allegations: that Cornerstone's
proposal did not comply with state requirements as far as employee
education and other standards; that Cornerstone's proposal contained
"blatant misstatements" regarding the services it would or could
provide; and that Abraxas' score in one section
was rounded down while Cornerstone's was rounded up. Attorneys representing
Abraxas and representatives for Cornerstone were
not available for comment at press time. (Cornerstone is not a party to
this lawsuit; Abraxas is suing the state of
Utah.) The Utah Attorney General's Office declined comment.
Swan Valley Youth Academy, Swan Valley,
Montana
July 29, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Executives of the Colorado-based Cornerstone Programs Corp., which
manages the Garza County Regional Juvenile Center in West Texas, have a
history of involvement in troubled juvenile facilities in other states.
Cornerstone closed its Swan Valley Youth Academy in 2006 after a Montana
State Department of Public Health and Human Services investigation found 19
violations, including neglect and failure to report child abuse and an
attempted suicide. "Intake process was particularly harmful to youth,
and many have been made to vomit due to excessive exercise and drinking
large amounts of water," Montana officials wrote in their findings.
According to Montana officials, the state and Cornerstone had developed a
corrective plan to keep the facility open. "There was
a number of charges of abuse filed against the director of the
program and the second in charge," said Cornerstone chief executive
Joseph Newman. The bad press hurt business and so it closed, he said. Mr.
Newman said state officials later cleared them of all the abuse charges,
but Montana officials said they had no record of that. In Texas,
Cornerstone's Garza facility has been put under corrective action plans to
improve staff training, documenting grievances and group therapy sessions.
But the company has hired a new director and added new staff to Garza,
which it began managing in 2003. In 2005, a 17-year-old inmate at the
facility became paralyzed after falling on his head in an attempt to do a
back flip off a table. A lawsuit by his family against the facility,
settled in 2006, alleged that a guard not only failed to prevent the stunt,
but challenged the youth to attempt it. The officer was fired after the
incident. The Garza County facility consistently has received positive
reviews by the Texas Youth Commission. "The Garza County Regional
Juvenile Center is an exemplary program," a TYC monitor wrote in the
facility's 2006 contract renewal evaluation – the same year Swan Valley
closed. Cornerstone was founded in October 1998 by Mr. Newman and board
chairman Jane O'Shaughnessy, about six months after another company they
operated ran into trouble in Colorado. That other company, called Rebound,
operated the High Plains Youth Center in Brush, Colo., which housed
juvenile offenders from around the country. In December 1995, a University
of Illinois at Chicago psychologist hired by the state's Department of
Children and Family Services issued a damning report on High Plains, and
the agency later began removing its youth from the juvenile prison.
"Unit staffing practices appear to be a numbers game where management
attempts to balance the competing pressures of safety and profit,"
wrote Dr. Ronald Davidson, a faculty member in the university's psychiatry
department. The facility also had a "consistent and disturbing pattern
of violence, sexual abuse, clinical malpractice and administrative
incompetence at every level of the program." A Human Rights Watch
report later found that High Plains "fell short of reasonable, even
minimal, performance." Colorado officials closed High Plains in 1998
after a 13-year-old inmate from Utah committed suicide and a state
investigation found widespread problems with physical and sexual abuse.
State officials also had uncovered problems at other Rebound facilities in
Colorado. Rebound's nonprofit Adventures in Change program did not meet
requirements to be licensed for drug and alcohol treatment nor meet
"acceptable standards for habitation," according to a 1996 state
audit. Auditors said the services, such as education, family counseling,
vocational training and employment, "are not routinely provided."
In his resignation letter as the facility's clinical coordinator, Paul
Schmitz wrote: "This is no longer a professional treatment environment
... and is not supported by the company as such." In 1997, Florida
officials severed the state's contract with Rebound to operate the Cypress
Creek juvenile detention facility after repeated problems, including
reports of disturbances that led to the arrests of several inmates for
inciting a riot. Rebound also had operated in Maryland, where it ran the
Charles H. Hickey Jr. School briefly in the early 1990s. Mr. Newman was the
deputy secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services from 1992 to
1994, according to the state. He joined Rebound in 1995. The Hickey
contract ended in 1993 after dozens of escapes, cases of alleged abuse and
other policy violations. Dr. Davidson, the Illinois psychologist, said the
past performance of Cornerstone and Rebound should raise concerns.
"Anyone who had bothered to check the record of this corporation in
Colorado and Florida and Maryland ..... would have
easily discovered a troubling history of incompetence and
fecklessness," he said.
April 22, 2002
The Denver company that operates the Swan Valley Youth Academy wants to be
able to draw clients from any state to stay on solid financial
footing. Cornerstone Programs Corp. was
originally authorized to recruit youths just from Montana. But
just over a year ago, the company's lease with the Department of Natural
Resources and Conservation was amended to allow recruitment of troubled
youths from a five-state area around Montana. Now, declining
enrollment at the campus-like facility north of Condon has Cornerstone
requesting the ability to recruit youths from any state. (Billings
Gazette)
Washington Department of Health
May 29, 2009 Spokesman-Review
A social worker and two counselors in the Puget Sound area have been
accused of buying fake degrees from a Spokane diploma mill. State health
officials said Michael Strub, a licensed social
worker, bought a doctor of philosophy in psychology diploma and transcript
in March 2004. The materials came from “Hamilton University,” an online
diploma mill. Strub worked at Cornerstone
Counseling Services in Puyallup, where Washington state Health Department
investigators say he used his fake diploma to misrepresent his education
and training to clients and insurance companies. David Larson, a registered
counselor and chemical dependency professional, is accused of buying a doctor
of psychology degree in October 2002 from “St. Regis University.” Larson
worked at Crossroads Treatment Centers in Tacoma and Parkland, and then
went to Civigenics in Tacoma before retiring in
October 2006. Agency and staff had referred to him as “Dr. Larson.” Taylor Danard, a registered counselor, bought a bogus doctor
of philosophy in psychology degree from St. Regis in January 2003. She
referred to herself as a Ph.D. in her practice at Madison Park Counseling
Center in Seattle. Investigators also accuse her of providing health
department investigators with false information. The three have 20 days to
respond to charges. They are listed on a database published online by The
Spokesman-Review last year of people who bought bogus degrees from a
Spokane-based operation that netted millions of dollars by selling more
than 10,000 college degrees and high school diplomas around the world. The
diploma mill was engineered by Dixie Ellen Randock,
who has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
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