Giving Compass' Take:
- Brittany Hailer and Mark Puente expose the lack of regulation on the private youth care centers Cleveland courts are sending kids to due to juvenile detention overcrowding.
- What can funders do to address the root causes of juvenile detention overcrowding and advocate for systemic change towards more restorative practices?
- Learn more about key issues in criminal justice and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on criminal justice in your area.
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Concerned about overcrowded youth detention centers, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court officials sought safer settings and a better path forward for kids. Apryl Gordon agreed to offer such a place at her private youth care center, Life’s Right Direction. Then, her Facebook posts came.
“Free Ass Whoopins!” and “one lick from that cord” could set them straight, Gordon wrote about the kids. She also posted offers to train others to make “mega money” by housing vulnerable children.
A Marshall Project - Cleveland investigation found that private youth care centers operate with lax oversight from the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court — no regular onsite inspections and no quarterly reports.
At the same time, success rates — whether a child completes the program without ending up back in some form of incarceration — for children housed in the facilities have decreased, while the detention center population surged.
The Marshall Project - Cleveland also reviewed hundreds of pages of complaints and corrective action plans on several youth care centers contracted by the court. Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court officials said they didn’t know the Ohio Department of Children and Youth had found problems because the state licenses and oversees the centers.
Court officials terminated their contract with Gordon and Life’s Right Direction a day after The Marshall Project - Cleveland raised questions about her online posts.
The Ohio Department of Youth Services in 1994 created RECLAIM — Reasoned and Equitable Community and Local Alternatives to the Incarceration of Minors — a program designed to curb overcrowding at juvenile detention centers and youth prisons, and emphasize rehabilitating children.
Cuyahoga County received about $5.5 million in RECLAIM funds for 2022-2023. It is budgeting an additional million for 2024-2025, according to court records.
Juvenile courts across Ohio receive funding from the state to pay for private placements as part of a program that provides financial incentives for courts if they keep the incarcerated youth population down.
Read the full article about private youth care centers by Brittany Hailer and Mark Puente at The Marshall Project.