Detention Services manages the care of all juveniles in the secure detention continuum,
including the Detention Center, Shelter Care, and Home Detention. During the year
2010, the Detention Center had an average daily population of 129 juveniles, Shelter Care
an average daily population of 44 juveniles, and Home Detention monitored an average
daily caseload of 170 juveniles.
ACCREDITATION
In January 2010, the American Correctional Association (ACA) awarded accreditation to the
Detention Center for a three-year period. The standards address services, programs, and operations
essential to effective correctional management. Through accreditation, an agency demonstrates a
balance between protecting the public and providing an environment that safeguards the life, health,
and safety of staff and offenders.
The auditors found 100% compliance for 28 mandatory standards and 98% compliance for 371
non-mandatory standards, which exceeds the 90% requirement for accreditation.
POPULATION
Detention Admission Screening Officers score all juveniles arrested by law enforcement for admission
to secure detention using the Detention Admission Screening Instrument (DASI). Due to limited
space, admission is restricted to the most serious offenders. The Admission Screening Unit scans and
emails police reports to on-call Assistant County Prosecutors after business hours to improve
efficiency in the admission process of juveniles.
As an alternative to Detention, selected residents are placed in the community while awaiting hearings,
either in shelter care or on home detention. Home Detention Officers can provide electronic
monitoring surveillance 24 hours per day, seven days a week, so violations can be addressed as they
occur. Technology now allows the electronic monitoring of juveniles who do not have telephone
landlines. The Juvenile Court has also added active GPS surveillance, in order to track the
whereabouts of designated juveniles in real time.
LIVING UNITS
Newly admitted residents are provided a thorough orientation by their assigned social
worker, unit manager, and detention officers. The social worker provides information
pertaining to Court related detention procedures. The unit manager and detention
officers provide information about the daily schedule, including school, activities, programs, medical and mental health services, visitation schedules, and special programming. They are also given information about the Behavior Management
program and detention rules and sanctions.
Unit 1B houses the girls and has a strong program to assist them in growth and development.
Community and volunteer programs work with the residents in life skills, arts and crafts, and behavior
management. The girls unit is involved in numerous other activities including inspirational speaker
presentations, church services, group activities, reading time, gym activity and exercises, TV-time, hair
styling, grief counseling, library time, school tutoring , 4-H Club, board games, Girl Scouts, unit
cleaning, and yoga. They have written newsletters and a book.
Unit 2A houses the youngest boys. Staff members work hard to keep them motivated and conduct
group sessions to teach appropriate behavior and expectations. The positive Behavior Management
program strengthens the growth and development of the residents. Sports activities help demonstrate
good team spirit and play time. Other activities include after-school tutoring and health education
programs, conducted by community volunteers.
Unit 2B houses the oldest boys. Community volunteers on this unit include college students who
tutor the residents and interns who work with residents on the unit. Other volunteers help the
residents with jobs and support once they leave the facility. Other unit activities include substance
abuse awareness programming and gym activities for large and small muscle exercise.
Unit 3A houses middle teenage boys. Like the other living units, residents participate in a number of
programs and activities to assist in their growth and development. These activities are facilitated by
staff, interns, and community volunteers.
Unit 3B houses older teenage boys. Community volunteers work with the residents to help in their
development and growth. The unit social worker conducts a very successful reading group with the
residents. The Behavior Management program and life skills programs have strengthened the overall
operation of this unit.
Residents throughout the Detention Center continue to rate their quality of life at the Detention
Center as very good, based on their responses to a Social Climate Quality of Life survey conducted
twice each year.
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VOLUNTEER SERVICES
Numerous community volunteers provide programming in the areas of life skills, substance abuse
awareness, health and hygiene counseling, arts and crafts, anger management, job readiness and the job
market, and conflict resolution, which has been very instrumental in the growth and development of
the residents at the Detention Center.
Community leaders, athletes, and military personnel give motivational presentations and entertainers
present plays throughout the year. Community organizations provide after-school tutoring to help
residents achieve in the classroom.
Before volunteers and college interns can work with residents, they must be cleared through criminal
background checks.
Community Volunteer Programs participating in 2010:
• Mount Pleasant Weed & Seed - Social Responsibility Training (SRT), a nationally recognized
program focusing on character development and life skills curricula for high risk youth
• Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland - Passport to Manhood Rites of Passage program
• Golden Ciphers Life Skills Program - Reconnecting family structures thru life and social skills
• Cleveland Treatment Center’s Project Safe - HIV/AIDS awareness
• Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve - Street Law program and life skills
• Out of the Matrix Program - Teaching youth conflict resolution and how to discover inner strength
• 4-H Club, New Beginnings & Change - Leadership training by Cleveland State University Social
Work Interns
• Cleveland State University - Music Therapy
• Yoga Training
• Grief Recovery / Counseling
• Girl Scouts - Leadership training
• Narcotics Anonymous program
• Spirituality Workshop / Religious programs
• Women in History workshop and Luncheon for female residents
• Kelly’s At Risk Kids - Life Skills
• Career & Technical Education - Vocational Education program
• Jewish Community Federation and John Carroll University Interns Tutoring program
• Downtown Education Center - Annual Career & Resource Day
• Cleveland Browns Players
• National Recording Artist - Determination
• NAACP - Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. program
• Karamu House - Play - The Course of Action
• Cleveland Public Theatre - Taking Care of Business Performance
• National Black Caucus - Annual Women in History Panel Discussion
• Resident Talent Show
• OSU Extension 4 H Club - How to create a Budget
• Christ the Savior United Methodist Church - Career Day panel discussion
• Cleveland Orchestra Cavani String Quartet - Performance
• City of Cleveland and Phebe Foundation - Financial literacy workshop, Making Money Matter
• Cleveland State University, Black Law Students Association - Panel discussion
• Cleveland Metro Parks - Biodiversity
• Cleveland Institute of Music - Student’s performance
• Golden Ciphers Drummers - Kwanzaa Celebration
• Annual Thanksgiving & Christmas programs
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
The Downtown Educational Center is located at the Juvenile Detention Center and the residents
attend school on-site. The Cleveland Municipal School District provides a principal, ten core subject
teachers, two special education teachers, one physical education teacher, three educational aides, and
one secretary. Residents receive school credits for any academic work completed in grades six
through twelve from their home school district. The Center also administers the Ohio Graduation
and Ohio Achievement Assessment tests and provides an after-school tutoring program for students
who need additional instruction. In addition, the Juvenile Court provides a Summer School program
for residents with an emphasis on reading and math skills.
MEDICAL SERVICES
The Detention Center contracts with the MetroHealth Nursing Department to provide on-site
nursing services for residents, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staffing includes one managing
registered nurse, one other RN, six licensed practical nurses, and one medical secretary.
By contract with MetroHealth, a physician or nurse practitioner is also on-site for four hours every
weekday, excluding holidays and physicians are on-call when not on the premises.
MetroHealth physicians complete a physical examination of all residents within seven days of admission.
The medical services unit has been participating in the Ohio Department of Health’s Infertility
prevention program since 2003, thereby saving the County substantial funds for STD testing and
treatment.
Residents are assured of confidential, unimpeded access to medical care by way of staff referrals for
emergency care and written health care requests by residents for non-emergency medical needs.
Prescribed medications are dispensed to residents three times per day. Special dietary needs due to
allergies, pregnancy, etc., are communicated to the Food Services staff and to the living unit staff.
Dental and other specialty care is provided by community providers.
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
The Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board contracts with Catholic Charities to
provide Mental Health Services for Detention Center and shelter care residents. Licensed
Independent Social Workers are on-site forty hours each week and are on-call after hours to assist
with any mental health crisis. They served 458 residents during 2010 and provided special training for
the Detention Center staff. Psychiatrists are on-site 16 hours each week. They provide evaluation,
counseling, psychotropic medication referral and monitoring, and crisis intervention, including
referrals for hospital admissions.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES
The Detention Center contracts with Lutheran Chaplaincy Services to provide religious counseling
and services to residents. The chaplain serves the religious needs of residents of all faiths and, when
needed, makes arrangements with appropriate community ministries. He also provides residents with
grief counseling associated with family deaths and conducts special holiday services, complete with
dinners served by Religious Services volunteers.
STAFF TRAINING
All Juvenile Detention employees and contracted staff receive annual mandatory Core Competency
training that includes Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation and Automatic External Defribulator,
Standard First Aid, Blood-borne Pathogens and Communicable Diseases, Emergency Response
(suicide prevention and intervention), Crisis Prevention Institute Verbal De-Escalation and Unarmed
Self-Defense, and fire extinguisher training. Staff who directly supervise residents receive a total of 40
hours annually, in accordance with American Correctional Association Accreditation standards.
All newly hired direct service staff receive 40 hours of pre-service orientation training and 120 hours
of on-the-job training, before assuming their responsibilities.
CUYAHOGA COUNTY JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTER
Construction of the new Juvenile Detention Center and Juvenile Court complex commenced in
2008 and is on schedule to open in 2011 as the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Justice Center.
Operational planning has included the development of a new detention management system.
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