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Palm Beach County Juvenile Detention Center
West Palm Beach, Florida
PsychSolutions
September 22, 2006 Palm Beach Post
It is now obvious why the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice spent
months trying to block a court-ordered review of the Palm Beach Regional
Juvenile Detention Center. The review, released Monday, shows what DJJ
already knew: The state is warehousing children and failing to provide
requested substance-abuse and mental-health treatment, despite a law that
the state provide such treatment. As reported in
The Post Tuesday, children at the 93-bed center in West Palm Beach get
limited, sporadic therapy, if at all. PsychSolutions,
the private company with a $360,339.20-a-year, two-year contract to provide
mental-health and substance-abuse services, is understaffed. As a result,
the Juvenile Advocacy Project of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County
found that "the unit primarily acts to stabilize crises, in effect placing a 'Band-Aid' on a child's problems."
Instead of constant or 5-minute checks of children at risk of suicide, the
children are observed every 30 minutes. Children interviewed in March and
again in August reported the same problems: Therapy was denied when
requested; prescription drugs were not available or monitored. Screening
tests, treatment plans and service transition plans were missing from most
files. The report, prompted by accusations of "cruel and unusual"
treatment of four children at the center, underscores DJJ's flawed
philosophy that the detention center is merely a place of transition. In
fact, with children being detained for months, treatment for addiction,
sexual abuse and mental illness is crucial. DJJ must enforce its contract
with PsychSolutions or cancel it. "DJJ is
passing the buck to its commitment programs rather than starting
rehabilitation at the Detention Center," the report said. "There
is no effective rehabilitative treatment despite the legal directive for it
and despite providers in place to deliver it." As the Juvenile
Advocacy Project prepares reports on the center's food services, living
areas, education services and staffing problems, a company with no experience
running a program for teen offenders is set to bid on taking over the
center, a result of the Legislature's ill-conceived plan to privatize it.
Juvenile Judge Peter Blanc, who ordered the review, can adopt the
recommendations by the Juvenile Advocacy Project, particularly court
oversight of psychiatric evaluations and referrals for mental-health
services, to ensure follow-through. The report also notes the ultimate
option of suing the state through the U.S. Department of Justice for
violating the children's civil rights. The better option? The state can
stop treating these children as someone else's crisis.
September 19, 2006 Palm Beach Post
A girl locked in Palm Beach County's juvenile detention center asked to
see a therapist on the anniversary of her mother's death, but said she
never heard back. A boy at the center was recommended for substance abuse
treatment, but nine months later, reviewers could find no evidence he ever
got it. And other teens did not get medication they were supposed to be
taking for mental health problems because workers failed to follow up with
their parents or doctors, according to a report from attorneys at the Legal
Aid Society's Juvenile Advocacy Project. Mental health treatment for teens
at the center on 45th Street in West Palm Beach is sporadic and limited,
the attorneys said, in part because a private company has not met the terms
of its contract. Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Blanc ordered
the review in response to attorneys' concerns that teens were being locked
up for months without meaningful treatment. The 93-bed facility, managed by
the Department of Juvenile Justice, holds juveniles charged with serious or
repeat crimes until space opens for them in a longer-term
residential programs. This year some teens have been forced to wait
several months in detention. The time they spend there does not count
against their sentences, which can vary depending on behavior. The state
pays PsychSolutions, Inc. of Coral Gables up to
$180,170 a year to provide a therapist and two mental health workers at the
facility, and $28,665 for a part-time psychiatrist. Teens can get 45
minutes of individual counseling once a week, the report said, but PsychSolutions does not provide the group counseling or
drug treatment promised in its contract.
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