(TJJD) Office of Inspector General - Texas Juvenile Justice Department

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentADVISORY COUNCIL ON JUVENILE SERVICESEmbassy Suites San MarcosHotel, Spa and Conference Center1001 E. McCarty LaneSan Marcos, TX 78666Wednesday, March 7, 2012The Burleson Boardroom1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Meeting MinutesMembers PresentEstela Medina (Chair), Doug Vance (Vice‐Chair), Linda Brooke, William Carter, Audrey Deckinga, Homer Flores, PhillipHayes, , Mario Ramirez, Matt Shaheen, Cherie Townsend, Randy Turner, and Mark WilliamsAbsencesLarry ThorneGuests Present:Jennifer Carreon (Texas Criminal Justice Coalition), Benet Magnusen (Texas Criminal Justice Coalition), Bob Kimball (PaloPinto County), Aris Johnson (Gregg County), Donna Richardson (Bastrop County).TJJD Staff PresentMelanie Cleveland (Executive Assistant), James Smith (TJJD Associate Deputy Commissioner of Youth Services), Amy Lopez(TJJD Superintendent of Education).Welcome [Estela Medina]The chair welcomed everyone and introduced Melanie Cleveland (Executive Assistant) and excused Larry Thorne.Everyone present was introduced including guests and TJJD staff.Review and Approval of January 26, 2012 Meeting Minutes [Estela Medina]On page two of the minutes, the last sentence of the last paragraph was changed to read, “Consistent with the goals of SB653 recommend that the Board establish funding priorities that support this mission.” Minutes were approved withchanges, submitted and directed to be posted on the agency website.State Operated Program and Services Update [James Smith, Amy Lopez]Giddings State SchoolIn the previous meeting there was a discussion to get updates on TJJD facilities. Coincidently, the Advisory Councilreceived a complaint via email on February 24, 2012 from a former TJJD employee at the Giddings State School. The Chairand Ms. Townsend discussed the response to the complaint. Ms. Townsend indicated that most of the issues raised in theemail were already being addressed. The council was responsive in forwarding the email to the Texas Juvenile JusticeTJJD Advisory Council Meeting MinutesMarch 7, 2012 I Page 1 of 5
Department Board chair.Ms. Townsend introduced James Smith and Amy Lopez who presented an overview of the Giddings State School programsas well as the strengths and challenges faced by the facility. The Giddings State School scored very high as a facility tocontinue, due to the programming and stability that had occurred in the past. Mr. Smith and Ms. Lopez each gave anaccount of the facility: Report from James SmithProgram strengths:Veteran staff in upwards of 20 years.High quality programming: sex offender, alcohol and drug and capitol and serious violent offender.Largest grouping of sentenced offenders. Facility worked primarily with sentenced offenders and specializedtreatment youth but the general population has increased.Great Education and Vocation programs. Many industry level certifications and vocations such as welding,wood work, construction trade and automotive certifications.Campus setting is beautiful and resembles a preparatory school or college.Program challenges:Staffing. Traditionally this facility had very little turnover and currently 95% staffed. However, they hadsignificant turnover in the Fall. This facility received youth from Al Price and Crockett facilities when they closedin the summer which increased general offender youth. In addition, staff was unavailable due to injuries,workman compensation or calling in sick. Vacancies were also a challenge but currently there are only twovacancies in the Juvenile Correctional Officer (JCO) 1‐4 classification. This was achieved due to a partnered effortwith Human Resources to expedite hiring and interviewing occurring every Wednesday. In January, 16 JCO’swere hired so currently 24 staff are going through entry level training. SB103 requires all JCO staff to have 300hours of training before they can be responsible for sole supervision of youth. That is a lot of time from hire towork but 5 staff from January reached that mark yesterday. Another 16‐17 will be fully certified by the end of themonth. November and December are hard months to hire for direct supervision and that hit at a time whenvacancies were adding up which compounded the supervision challenges. When vacancies combine with a fewincidents, then morale goes down. Giddings State School currently has 10 JCO vacancies with two in JCO 1‐4, twoin JCO 6 and six in JCO 5. Additionally, in March Giddings partnered with other facilities to loan staff to help withcoverage on the floor as well as mentoring and coaching staff. They are focused on being one team not many andare appreciative of the help. Mr. Smith has established a satellite office on campus and works there 2 to 3 days aweek. His goal is to provide assistance by talking with staff and youth and explaining expectations, especiallyaround youth aggression.Youth aggression. This is a significant challenge and partially due to an influx of youth from Al Price and Crockettfacilities while transferring other youth to other facilities at the same time. These youth were in a newenvironment, testing limits and at the time, the facility was experiencing staff shortages so these youth tookadvantage of these opportunities. The staff could have responded better but did not and we are working on that.Historically, this facility handled youth aggression very well. When staff work additional hours, they are less likelyto confront behaviors. The Giddings State School staff is now ready to confront behavior and hold youthaccountable for their actions.Security. Additional staff was deployed from Central Office to Giddings to regularly help, guide and assist. ThePREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) coordinator is there once a week to ensure that security and safety practicesare in line. This has been a major help to the staff.TJJD Advisory Council Meeting MinutesMarch 7, 2012 I Page 2 of 5
Page 1: Texas Juvenile Justice Department (
Page 5: Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentAD
Page 10 and 11: closing date for survey submissions
Page 12 and 13: Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentSt
Page 14 and 15: Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentSt
Page 16: Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentSt
Page 19 and 20: Topic 3: Establishing a Continuum o
Page 21 and 22: FOR EACH QUESTION PLEASE:• PLACE
Page 23 and 24: 38%; 36%; 26% Assessment to identif
Page 25 and 26: 42% Accurate assessment of the yout
Page 27 and 28: 10. As a stakeholder, is there anyt
Page 29 and 30: TEXAS JUVENILE JUSTICE DEPARTMENTGo
Page 31 and 32: Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentKE
Page 33 and 34: Goal B: State Services and Faciliti
Page 35 and 36: Texas Juvenile Justice DepartmentKE
Page 37 and 38: M A J O R B U D G E T S T R U C T U
Page 40 and 41: APPENDIX C: FORMAT FOR REQUESTING C
Page 42 and 43: Data Source: Data relating to this
Page 44 and 45: Strategy No. 1Output No. 1Title: Yo
Page 46 and 47: Data Limitations: Relies on an up-t
Page 48 and 49: Title: Total Number of Delinquent R
Page 50 and 51: Data Limitations: Data used in the
Page 52 and 53: Methodology: Calculated by determin
Page 54 and 55: Output No. 6 Output No. 6Title: Tot
Page 56 and 57:
New Measure: No.Desired Performance
Page 58 and 59:
Purpose: Juvenile Correctional Offi
Page 60 and 61:
Methodology: Data sources are autom
Page 62 and 63:
Desired Performance: Lower than tar
Page 64 and 65:
Data Limitations: The measure is de
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
Data Source: Assessment and Orienta
Page 70 and 71:
Goal No. 2Objective No. 1Strategy N
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75:
Data Source: Youth committed to TYC
Page 76 and 77:
Purpose: Nearly all youth committed
Page 78 and 79:
Data Limitations: The measure exclu
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
Page 84 and 85:
Methodology: Total dollars expended
Page 86 and 87:
Data Limitations: The Texas Youth C
Page 88 and 89:
Objective No. 1Strategy No. 8 Strat
Page 90 and 91:
Data Limitations: Even within the c
Page 92 and 93:
Data Limitations: The Texas Youth C
Page 94 and 95:
Title: Average Daily Population: Sp
Page 96 and 97:
Data Limitations: TYC accepts all y
Page 98 and 99:
Desired Performance: Higher than ta
Page 100 and 101:
Definition: The number of youth ser
Page 102 and 103:
APPENDIX C: FORMAT FOR REQUESTING C
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Strategy No. 2Measure Type: OutputM
Page 108:
show all

(TJJD) Office of Inspector General - Texas Juvenile Justice Department

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?