Remember back in December when I posted this about St. Joseph County Judge Peter Nemeth? The story then was he refused to send female juveniles to the Indiana Girls School for a variety of complaints.
Well, today’s South Bend Tribune is reporting the Department of Corrections is making some staffing changes that are encouraging to Nemeth. Specifically;
The DOC has announced it will end a two-year-old arrangement to house boys and girls at the same Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility by moving the boys to a recently renovated section of the Logansport Juvenile Correctional Facility.
…Nemeth said he was encouraged by the DOC’s announcement that a “staffing plan for the facility is being developed to ensure the appropriate deployment of staff.”
“If they are actually doing a staffing plan … if it means more than just words, I think that is real progress,” the judge said. “I applaud them for that.
…
Girls will be moved into the unit being vacated by the boys. The unit will house girls in single rooms that lock from a central control location, along with a special management unit specifically programmed for girls struggling with mental health issues.
…“It looks like they are going to do what we want them to do,” said Bill Bruinsma, executive director of the St. Joseph County Juvenile Justice Center. “We’ll have to see what staffing they’re going to add in and what kind of programming they’re going to put into it … It’s a step in the right direction.”
However, Nemeth doesn’t appear completely sold on the changes…
Nemeth said he still will avoid sending girls to the Indianapolis facility until he knows more details about the changes, especially whether staff-to-child ratios improve. Instead, he said he is sending girls who are the most difficult to rehabilitate to a private juvenile detention facility in Vincennes, at a daily cost to the county of $138, compared to $60 a day at the Indianapolis DOC girls school.
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So, have things changed since this was written. I am very concerned about the mental health treatment of a particular child that may be headed that direction soon.
Comment by Lindsay Obendorf — February 18, 2009 @ 9:14 am |
To Lindsay. I was actually sent to this school twice when I was between the ages of 12 and 15. It has been about 10 years now, but is still an experience that is very fresh to me. The fact of the matter, is that no matter what they do, the things mentioned are still going to happen. There is always going to be the bad staff members. There is always going to be sex between the inmates. As far as the education is concerned, a lot of girls just feel like it doesn’t matter. They have nothing to gain or lose… so who cares. There is not enough of a reward for good grades. When it came to cleaning the cottages, now that is something the girls would work on, because the cleanest cottage would get to have a dance with boys from the Boy’s School. Now why not for getting good grades? They say that they allow home passes, and if approved by the counselor and your guardian, you can have someone other than immediate family (parents, children, or siblings) visit you. In both of the times I was there, I never saw either of these 2 things happen to anyone for any reason. My sixth grade English teacher wrote to me and would send me stamps while I was there. I wanted her to visit, but it was out of the question I know I would have tried my hardest in school had either of those things been a possible reward. While I was there, it was not a male staff member that was making sexual passes and having inapropriate relationships with the inmates. It was a gay woman. I tried to bring this to someones attention, and got in much trouble. I even had to write an apology to the woman. I understand that sometimes people stir up this kind of trouble for fun, but that was not what I was doing. I feel that the girls having the relationship with her should have been questioned, and there should have at least been an investigation. Even if they stop hiring men, this type of thing will still happen, and very easily at that. People don’t beleive the trouble maker that is locked up, and it’s a very hard thing to prove when there is only one staff member working at the cottage at night. As for the inmates having sex with each other… that will NEVER stop. Weather guards lock the doors or not. I was surprised to see that they were being accused of condoning it though because it was something they were very strict about. The fact of the matter is though, that there is nothing they can do to stop it. If the guards would lock the doors, it may be harder to have sex with the person you choose, but it won’t stop it. First of all, I’m pretty sure the girls still have roomates. Usually 2 girls to a room. Sometimes 3, and on rare occasion, maybe 4 in a room or 2. Sleeping in the same room, the girls can definently have sex. Even if they start to put girls in the rooms alone, which would be impossible, you still have the girls who are not scared to get caught who will do it in the bathrooms, showers, or even sitting on a couch together watching a movie in the dark with the guards right there. There were also a few other disturbing things that happened while I was there. Cream of wheat is served for breakfast almost every morning. At least it was then. At one point, ants had infested the cream of wheat. When girls first started complaining about it, cereal was given to them for a day or 2. After that we were told to eat it or go hungry. After a couple of weeks, the ants were gone. The other thing is that I got into a fight while I was there, and after a male guard hand cuffed me, he backhanded me in the mouth. For about 7 years after that, starting the next morning at breackfast, my jaw painfully popped out of place when I opend my mouth too wide or yawned and sometimes when I was chewing. Even after saying all of this, I have to admit that most of the staff members truly are good people who care for the girls, and I feel that I owe my life to this place. The counselor that I had was a strict, but amazing woman. She taught me, and helped me become a better person. No matter what DOC you end up in other than high security juvenile halls, where there are cameras everywhere that watch the guards, and the girls are in locked cells by themselves, things like this will happen. All they can do is try to come up with ways to make it happen less,(such as allowing only 1 girl to shower or use the restroom at a time, having 2 staff members working together at all times, or setting up security cameras that record staff & inmate, and offering good rewards for behavior and grades) But they are not going to stop it. All I can say is that if you have a child that ends up in a place like this, you visit your children often. Ask questions, talk, and look to make sure that they are being treated properly. If you have a problem with something happening in the school, take it to someone that can investigate the school, and not the school itself.
Comment by Danielle — March 6, 2009 @ 3:18 am |
I was there when i was 15 1/2 years old.I”m now 67 yrs old.There was 1 girl to a room.Rooms were small.Bars on windows.I was there for running away from the farm because i did not want to go to school.I was there till i was 18 1/2.I worked out in the chicken yard,with mister white,in the fields.They had a room where they locked u up that was small little window way up high in corner,big thick door, a mirror,and an air duct in ceiling so u could breath.Your first meal was bread and water/If u ate it, u got a better one next time.2 big men would come and throw u down and a nurse would give u a shot if u were talking out your window at nite after the lights were out.It was Thorazene.U would go out like a lite.I was out cold for 3 days on a cold floor in a gown,because they did this to me.I also worked in the laundry.I had to take thorazene every day because i refused to do something or i talked out my window at nite.I lost lots of weight.1girl hung herself and died ,another broke a heavy glass door got cut so bad went to hospital never saw her again.They had an attic so big it wasn’t funny,u could of put a herd of elephants up there and still had room. they also had cells up there,they would lock u up there for weeks at a time.1 of the buildings had a cell block.I was on thorezene i got locked in the cell block i cut my legs up with a bobby pin,they rubbed salt in my cuts so they would burn,they were deep i still have the scars.Thorezene makes u feel stuned,u don’t feel much and don’t care.I don’t remember a lot of sex.I did go to school,i learned to crochet.which i like.I could go on an on.I used to think i would sue the school for what they did to me,with the medication,but i never did.Tho i should have.
Comment by Janet Kunz — March 6, 2009 @ 11:04 pm |
Im going to Girl School in a matter of days. Im curious, what do you wear? What are the rooms like, is it really that bad?
Comment by Mileena — December 15, 2009 @ 9:41 am |