State officials began the process of returning Arkansas' youth jails to private control on Monday by issuing a draft request for proposal to run the facilities.
The bid solicitation document outlines requirements the new contractor must follow when managing all four juvenile lockups. The final request for proposal should be released about a week after the draft version, allowing those involved in the juvenile justice field time to give feedback, officials said.
The new contract is set to start in May. The cost has yet to be tallied, but Keesa Smith, a Department of Human Services deputy director, said it should be similar to the $160 million bid to run the sites that failed legislative review two years ago.
Some youth advocates expressed optimism about this bid request, especially because the new contract would close two facilities and reduce the overall bed count from 220 to 162.
To them, new facility management is an important piece of a much-needed overhaul of Arkansas' juvenile justice system.
The new proposal has "a more youth-centered approach, greater accountability in the delivery of such services and ultimately better outcomes for kids," said Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
"Success will ultimately depend on [the Human Services Department's] ability to effectively monitor these contracts," Huddleston added.
Advocacy organizations -- namely Disability Rights Arkansas, a nonprofit with federal monitoring authority -- have for years continued to find that abuse and neglect occur at the youth lockups, such as inadequate behavioral-health treatment and poor facilities. Federal investigators have also cited similar problems.
The department's Division of Youth Services has been overseeing the facilities since January 2017. Gov. Asa Hutchinson pushed management of the facilities to the state after two Arkansas nonprofits that had been running the sites for years didn't get their contracts renewed. The bid was intended to go to an Indiana-based company, but the nonprofits protested and lawmakers failed to approve that contract.
The proposed new contract, however, bolsters therapy, case management and family engagement requirements.
The new operator of the lockups must:
• Create vocational-technical programs at each facility.
• Implement evidence-based programs designed to reduce recidivism.
• Use restorative justice and trauma-informed interventions.
• Develop regular family events and contact families at least weekly.
• Ensure at least 90 percent of youths are ready for release within their prescribed sentencing.
• Aim to keep sentences, when possible, under six months -- a time frame that research shows usually works best.
The contract proposal also specifies that therapists be supervised by licensed psychiatrists, their caseloads won't exceed 16 and that they'll lead at least weekly individual and group sessions.
Better case management is emphasized, too. For example, facilities must have two case managers, and their individual caseload can't go over 16. Case managers will be required to attend court hearings involving the youths they oversee without being subpoenaed.
Officials plan to change more than programming at the sites, according to the request for proposal.
Juvenile treatment centers in Colt and Dermott will close before the summer. The the remaining juvenile treatment centers located in Harrisburg, Lewisville and Mansfield, as well as Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility, a separate site for older, more high-risk youths, will be reorganized.
Certain facilities will house youths based on their individual risk level or special treatment needs, such as substance abuse or sex-offender treatment. Harrisburg, an unfenced facility, will run an all-girls program.
'NEED TO FIX THINGS'
The new contract proposal comes at a time when the Youth Services Division, which oversees the youth lockups, is undergoing big changes.
For instance, the youth agency just launched its "Transformation Plan," a blueprint for major revisions to the state's juvenile justice system, including private facility operation and injecting state funds that would normally go to incarceration into community programs for at-risk youths instead.
Also, Betty Guhman, who has years of social work and child welfare experience and is often credited for championing efforts to improve the lockups across the state, has just stepped down as the division's director.
Her interim replacement, Michael Crump, has a more narrow experience with the juvenile system, having served as a Pulaski County deputy prosecutor before his tenure at the Human Services Department. The agency is conducting a nationwide search to replace Guhman permanently, Smith said.
Some who've worked alongside Guhman since she headed the division in 2016 worry about the agency staying on track without her at the helm, even though she is staying with the Human Services Department in the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.
"Betty understood the need to fix things. ... Another director means more training and inconsistencies," said Tom Masseau, Disability Rights' executive director. "This is poor timing with the legislative session and bidding of facilities. I hope [the Division of Youth Services] doesn't go into a spiral."
Amy Webb, the division's spokesman, said that the agency gave priority to improved services when crafting the new request for proposal and that it will continue to work on bettering outcomes for kids, including shorter sentences and less recidivism.
"We know that at the end of the day that a case isn't just a case, it's a youth in our care," Webb said. "We want to do everything we can to ensure there is someone managing their cases and making sure they are getting the treatment and services they need to successfully move back into their home communities. And the quality of the treatment matters."
A Section on 12/12/2018