The state is making improvements to perimeter fencing at the Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center to keep children from climbing the fence and escaping, the state's director of youth services said Tuesday.
Twelve children have escaped from the lockup since July 2018.
A news release about the Youth Services Division's continuing efforts to decrease incarceration of young people and improve outcomes for kids who get into trouble mentioned the fence work.
The release said division Director Michael Crump "expects the new fencing to resolve an ongoing issue of youth climbing the existing fence and walking away from the center."
The agency is also upgrading its information technology system to collect more reliable data on outcomes for kids, according to an Arkansas Department of Human Services news release sent Tuesday. Youth services is a division of the department.
In November, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced a plan to transform Arkansas' juvenile justice system, which has been described by advocates and experts as ineffective and sometimes harmful.
So far this year, the state has closed two youth treatment centers in Dermott and Colt.
A 14-year-old boy escaped from the Mansfield center in February, but a Sebastian County neighbor caught him and held him at gunpoint until authorities picked him up. Four other teenagers climbed over the fence in May. Three more scaled it earlier this month, stole a vehicle and were later arrested in Texas.
Contractors are installing new fencing in some spots. They also are adding 5 feet of "no climb" mesh to the whole fence, which is now 10 feet tall, according to the news release.
The mesh fencing is expected to cost $292,830. The project must be finished in 120 days, but the Human Services Department is pushing the contractor to finish more quickly, said Marci Manley, an agency spokeswoman.
The Youth Services Division is also working to "modernize" its data collection, although it is not hiring any additional staff members. Manley said the department is using internal staff members from inside the division and elsewhere in the department, as well as an outside vendor.
The department uses RiteTrack, a juvenile-justice case management software, to track data.
Manley said the department was considering what features it needs in a new software and, in the meantime, examining how to make the best use of RiteTrack.
"Replacing that [software] would ultimately be the goal," she said. "In the meantime, we are looking at how do we improve the reporting that we're able to do out of RiteTrack?"
She added that the division will track information on placements, violent incidents, lengths of stays and treatment plans.
Youth Opportunity Investments, a private group that operates lockups in Mansfield, Harrisburg, Dermott and Lewisville, also will allow kids to wear school uniforms instead of traditional jail jumpsuits. They're also creating an incentive system to "reduce bad behavior," according to the news release.
The Dermott facility is for those 18-21 who are still in the juvenile court system.
Hutchinson also moved the Civilian Student Training Program into the Youth Services Division on July 1 as part of his move to decrease the number of departments that report to him.
The program is a court-ordered, military-style boot camp for boys ages 13-17. It used to be a part of the military department, and director Millicent Booth, reports to youth services, Manley said.
"We're committed to doing the work necessary to enrich these centers and improve our operations, and the organization that is over the day-to-day management is committed, too," Crump said in the news release.
Metro on 07/31/2019