Racine County Juvenile Detention Center, Racine, Wisconsin

Racine County Juvenile Detention Center normally holds about 60 juveniles. Kids go to school for five hours a day, mostly with special education teachers, and exercise for one hour. The facility implements ACE (Alternatives to Confinement through Education). Juveniles are called “kids” in this facility, and address staff by first name. There is a high recidivism in the institution.

In the Girls’ Wing of Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles, CA, recreation time in the cafeteria leads some girls to dance to the rhythm created by other girls drumming on the lunch tables. There are 113 girls in the facility, many of them being gang members. Girls at the Bluett School in St. Louis, Missouri take after school dance classes as part of their program. Kids are sent to Bluett School after being kicked out of school for fighting, drugs, bad behavior, suspension, and other reasons, in order to avoid court.

A lonely exercise cell in Harris County Psychiatric Center, Houston, Texas

Harris County Psychiatric Center in Houston, Texas is not a facility exclusively for juveniles. The Harris County Probation Department pays for 16 beds at a cost of $2.1 million dollars per year. According to Juvenile Probation Department Executive Director Tom Brooks, the money is well spent, treating juveniles with sub-acute, severe mental health needs. As many of these children are the offspring and result of a 90′s crack epidemic, the point is to treat the kids without criminalizing them and hopefully prevent them from becoming part of the juvenile justice system.

 Young men play a flag football game, self-refereed, during their recreation time in the Orientation Training Phase of Pueblo, Colorado’s Youth Offender System.

The Orientation Training Phase (OTP) of the Youth Offender System (YOS) in Pueblo, Colorado performs both intake and assessment of convicted juveniles. This facility is run boot camp style, with staff screaming commands to the kids constantly. All juveniles here are under juvenile sentences with adult sentences hanging: a mess-up at OTP means they will have to serve their adult sentence. For example, a kid could be there serving a two year juvenile sentence with 15 years hanging. In the juvenile detention system, rarely do they allow contact sports– even flag football.

Recreation in retirement homes, cruise lines, and…juvenile detention?

Cook County Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, Illinois is the largest juvenile detention facility in the country, with a maximum capacity of 498 juveniles. In 2010, the population averaged 325, with the vast majority being African American. Most of the kids at Cook County are there for violating parole or drug possession, largely due to bad urine analysis. The average stay is 30 days, though they range from three days to two years. Visitors are escorted in and out of the center. The general treatment in the facility goes far beyond protecting the kids.

I’ve been in the system since I was 11. I have another three or four months to go this time– I’ve already been here ten months. It’s always for fighting or disobeying authority. I’m originally from Arkansas, but my dad is in the military so he’s stationed in Texas.We talk over the phone and by email. My mom lives in Germany with my step dad. He’s in the military too. I know the statistics for kids in the system, but I want to beat the odds.

-P.J., age 17, Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center, Golden, Colorado

Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center houses a maximum of 160 juveniles. 85% of the 154 kids in the facility were on psychotropic medication, many suffering severe mental issues. The center deals primarily with “aggravated juveniles,” those who attempted murder, assault, … Read More »

Ventura County Juvenile Justice Facility’s post-adjudication pod, for sentenced, committed, male juveniles. The pod is set up dorm-style, and houses 15 boys, with some singles and some group rooms.They have all been there varying amounts of time, ranging from one week to seven months.