Center desperately needs mental health and education services
In St. Charles Parish nearly 80 youth visited the St. James Detention Center for criminal offenses since October 2007, according to the Office of Youth Development Corrections in Baton Rouge.
The federal government agrees, rating Louisiana’s juvenile detention centers among the worst in the country, for meeting mental health care needs, educational needs, and offering drug rehab services.
Juvenile delinquents ages 10 through 17 are held at the center until the court system determines where they should go.
“The St. James Detention center is really a holding area for youth,” Capt. Shannon Washington, director of the center said. “We keep children here until other arrangements are made for them by the court system; basically it’s up to the judge to decide where they go from here.”
Washington says the longest length of time a youth has stayed at the facility has been about three months.
Patricia Dennis, a social worker for the facility, says the center badly needs mental health services for the youth as well as substance abuse programs.
“Since we are housing them until something comes available because we don’t know how long they’re going to be here, we need these services,” Dennis said. “Unfortunately we have to go outside of the facility to find the support that the youths need.”
Dennis says by the time an appointment becomes available it could be two to three months away and the juvenile is gone, either to a program, a group home, or back home.
“We have had some youths housed here for doing something wrong and they may be moderately mentally disabled and it’s difficult to communicate with them and they usually don’t know what they’ve done,” she said.
“They just have to remain here until a placement is available or a bed is found for them,” she said.
According to Mental Health Services, developmentally-delayed people have trouble speaking, find it hard to remember things, have trouble understanding social rules, have trouble discerning cause and effect, have trouble solving problems, have trouble thinking logically, and act immaturely.
Washington says the youth in detention centers also need better programs to meet their educational needs.
“What the facility here needs is a G.E.D. program,” he said. “We had one before but the teacher assigned to the course quit.”
Washington says juveniles housed at the facility often ask if it’s possible for them to get their G.E.D.
“When they ask me, I tell them no, because there’s no program available anymore,” he said. “But we do have three teachers who teach the youth refresher courses.”
St. James Detention Center houses juvenile delinquents in the Region 3 area which includes, St. James, St. Charles, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. John, St. Landry, and Ascension parishes.
Louisiana’s detention centers received failing grades in every category according to the United States Department of Justice statistics.
“In St. James Parish, we do our best with the employees we’re given,” Dennis said. “We do have a shortage of workers, and I’m not sure why that is.”
Washington says based on his experience some people find it difficult and just don’t want to work with troubled children.
“Some people don’t want to do this line of work,” he said. “It’s difficult to reach out to some of the children and some people just don’t like that.”
Dennis says that a pay increase may encourage more people to work with the children.
“We’re out numbered,” she said. “We have more children than qualified employees to work with them.”
The U.S. Department of Justice ranks Louisiana 49 in the country in terms of services and meeting the needs of incarcerated youth in the state.
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