JUVENILE DETENTION

Teen offenders leave cells behind

Program seeks to point troubled youths in new direction

Youths in the Life Intensive Skills Training program work on projects in art class at the Garland County Juvenile Detention Center in Hot Springs. The program is a last chance for some of the participants to stay out of the custody of the Arkansas Youth Services Division.
Youths in the Life Intensive Skills Training program work on projects in art class at the Garland County Juvenile Detention Center in Hot Springs. The program is a last chance for some of the participants to stay out of the custody of the Arkansas Youth Services Division.

HOT SPRINGS -- The thin teenager leans against the cool cinder-block wall of a hallway separating a classroom from a jail cell.

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"This is my last chance," he says.

His name is Tae'von, and he knows too well the inside of the jail cell behind him, where other teens in jail-issue jumpsuits watch TV or lounge on their bunks and a uniformed deputy passes every few minutes, keeping watch.

Tae'von has been inside the cells of the Garland County Juvenile Detention Center eight times. The sinking feeling in his gut when he woke up each morning remains fresh in his mind.

But this July weekday is different. Tae'von jokes with the deputy. He wears street clothes, his own clothes, and a slight smile.

He's been across the hall from the holding cells most of the afternoon in a classroom full of desks and books and even a few music keyboards. He just finished up a physical fitness class and is about to go to art.

And unlike the teens in the jumpsuits, Tae'von will be picked up by his mom a little later, and he'll go home.

Tae'von is one of about 10 teens participating in the detention center's new Life Intensive Skills Training, a program that aims to keep nonviolent youths out of detention by providing daily classes on cooking, physical fitness, art and music.

The program, which runs until Sept. 1, is court-ordered. This story uses only the youths' first names because the newspaper doesn't identify minors involved in juvenile court proceedings.

For most of the teens like Tae'von, it's a last chance for them to stay out of the custody of the state Division of Youth Services.

Lt. Belinda Cosgrove, who oversees the juvenile detention center, said the program, known as LIST, is more than just part of the youths' probation.

"These are kids who are at that point where they need to make a decision, and we're trying to show them how to make an informed decision on how to lead their life," Cosgrove said.

The Garland County program is one of several delinquency intervention and prevention programs across the state that received grants this month from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Youth Services Division Director Tracy Steele says expanding programs like the one in Garland County is part of his vision for continuing to reduce the number of children committed to state custody.

"We just had a special [legislative] session where we funded more beds in our prisons. We've got to do something so that our kids, when they reach that age of adulthood, are not the ones filling those beds up," Steele said.

Steele said he's had preliminary discussions with some legislators about what can be done to help expand prevention and intervention programs during the next General Assembly.

In the meantime, his staff is working to offer training to volunteers in prevention programs to help them handle youths who may have emotional and behavioral disorders that require special attention.

They're also looking for nonprofits and community groups to build off the examples set by programs like the one in Garland County.

"This is a real situation where prevention works. I know people say that, but not only does it work, it's less costly," Steele said, noting that the Garland County program operates largely with about $15,000 in federal funds.

"You look at a program like this. We've invested $15,000 for this summer program, but if one of these kids, by not having this program, would be committed to DYS, it would be much more costly to keep them in our facility the same amount of time that they're in this program," Steele said.

Not wasting time

As part of the Garland County program, guest speakers from local organizations and businesses visit with the youths and talk about making good choices.

They're taught not only anger management and teamwork but also how to make mosaics and paint.

On a recent afternoon, art instructor Kinsey Smedley laid out small white canvases and paintbrushes in preparation for the teens working on their first abstract landscape, a tree set in a backdrop of purples, blues and browns.

It takes a bit to calm everyone down. A few boys -- younger than 15 but sporting tattoos -- talk over one another and tease about another boy's girlfriend.

"Hold up, guys. We're not going to talk girlfriends," Smedley says, bringing the class's attention back to the canvases.

The class gradually quiets, and the canvases become covered with paint that the teens spread and blend with sponges.

Vaden focuses intently on his work. He said he's more into music, but he works hard in art.

"I write songs and play keyboard," he says.

"But I like to do the work and let her know that I'm paying attention and she's not wasting her time," he says of Smedley.

Next to Vaden, Marlon holds his painting up for Smedley.

"I'm afraid to paint the tree. It looks so good. I like the galaxy look," he says.

It's your choice, Smedley says.

Around Marlon, black lines on the other teens' canvases take shape into trees and a few other designs. Some write their names.

Marlon pauses for a few minutes, then picks up a bottle of paint and begins the outline of a design.

"I just wanted to write my name," he says of the design. "But it felt right."

He smiles and puts his canvas up to dry.

Smedley, who teaches third grade at Lakeside Intermediate School, said the mosaic class is typical of what she's seen from the group of teens.

"They are very supportive of each other. They want to see each other do well," Smedley said.

After painting, each of the teens took turns picking up mosaics they made the week before when Alice Franke of Mosaic Madness donated her time and the supplies for their art class.

Deshun, a slight teen with a stack of dark curls on his head, chose a fleur-de-lis. Or more aptly, he says, "the New Orleans Saints symbol."

"I was looking at the jewels, and they all just fit around it," he says, gesturing to the smoothed, curved glass pieces that now outline the symbol.

The other teens did much the same, intently selecting pieces with little conversation. Later in the summer, they'll work on another mosaic, a larger piece that will hang in the new Garland County jail once it's completed.

'A big deal'

Cosgrove said the projects in Smedley's class are designed to encourage the teens to make an effort and be invested in the art they create.

"Our kids have never been recognized for their accomplishments. They've been recognized for their behavior, so to finish things and to accomplish something is a big deal," Cosgrove said.

To be clear, Cosgrove's staff doesn't hide what's at stake for the teens in the LIST program. The classroom is in the juvenile jail, where only a hallway separates the teens from the locked doors, strict rules and 22 beds bolted to the walls and covered with thin mats.

As part of the program, Cosgrove said, she'll be tracking the teens to see if they re-offend or get into trouble at school. If any of them return to detention after the program, she said, she'll review their cases to see if the program needs to adapt to a different set of needs.

Cosgrove said she hopes that won't be the case. Her staff works hard to keep as many youths as possible from ever seeing the inside of one of the cells.

So does Hot Springs therapist Kea Hampton, who goes to the detention center weekly to counsel the youths held there.

Hampton worked with Cosgrove to start the LIST program with the support of Sheriff Larry Sanders and Chief Deputy of Corrections Mark Chamberlain, and with about $2,000 to $3,000 from the juvenile detention center's budget.

The idea for the program grew out of discussions Hampton had with Cosgrove and others about what they could do with a small amount of funding that could channel the youngsters' energy and interests, Hampton said.

She and Cosgrove listened to what many of the youths already loved to do -- dancing, sports, painting and drawing (sometimes on the wrong things), and singing.

"They've got so much talent. They just don't have the opportunity to use it. A lot of the children come from places that don't have any resources," Hampton said. "We want to cultivate and use that talent for good. It's an opportunity for them to feel good about themselves."

Hampton's daughter, Haley, a registered dietitian with a master's degree in kinesiology, teaches the physical fitness portion of the LIST program.

It's Haley Hampton's class that Tae'von says appeals to him the most.

"I like the workout class. I'm trying to get fit," he says.

The class keeps him motivated to stay away from the wrong people, something that he said has been hard for him to do during past summers. He has many brothers and sisters at home, which keeps him constantly looking for time for himself.

But his afternoons in the LIST program so far have given him a reprieve, he says.

"It gives me time to focus on me," he says as he heads off to join the other students.

He walks into the classroom and doesn't look back.

A section on 07/28/2014

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