Efforts to stop gang violence in Ohio's youth prisons are ineffective

[Lucinda F. Boyd]

COLUMBUS - Efforts to stop gang violence in Ohio's youth prisons are ineffective and three facilities remain unacceptably dangerous places for young people, according to a new report.

While the Department of Youth Services has tried to fix the problem, the agency is also guilty of "a widespread and somewhat misguided belief that gang violence may no longer be a significant problem," the report released late Wednesday said.

"The time has come for a different approach to gang violence reduction," said Fred Cohen, a juvenile justice expert appointed by a federal judge to oversee a five-year plan to improve conditions at the youth prisons.

The report also says the rate at which guards injure youths during discipline is declining but is still too high, and it appears prison staff don't have the skills to properly conduct hearings about such discipline.

The agency says it is making progress but knows more can be done.

"I acknowledge that we have a way to go and commit to seeing every initiative of the reform through to completion," DYS director Christine Money said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Ohio agreed to make widespread changes following a 2004 lawsuit that uncovered evidence of a culture of violence permeating its seven juvenile correctional facilities, including excessive use of force by guards. U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley approved the lawsuit's settlement on May 21, 2008, and set a five-year deadline to fix the problem.

Since then, the number of young people in DYS facilities has continued to drop, thanks in part to a decrease in youth crime and an increasing use of county-run facilities that keep juvenile offenders close to home.

The state now has five juvenile detention centers. The report said the Ohio River Valley center in southern Ohio and the Circleville center have dangerous gang problems. The Indian River center in Massillon in northeast Ohio has gang problems but to a lesser degree, the report said.

The agency started a program last September that tries to reduce gang violence by teaching youth how to deal with drinking and drug problems, stay out of trouble and control their tempers.

Among other issues cited in the report, an annual review of Ohio's progress in meeting goals of the five-year plan:

- Students housed in separate units after being expelled from the agency's school system are not receiving adequate psychiatric care and their families aren't regularly invited to help with their treatment.

- The quality of mental health treatment plans is inadequate when it comes to identifying problems, measuring goals and reporting on progress.

- A violence-reduction program produced marginal decreases in violence while increasing the number of young people in segregation. The agency has since modified the program to reduce the hours in isolation.

The report praised the agency for increasing the amount of training staff are receiving. And Cohen said DYS has made "authentic progress" in changing the nature of the agency...