sinner.michael@co.olmsted.mn.us

Overview of the Many Rivers Regional Juvenile Center

The MRRJC is a 16 bed Juvenile Detention Center with a staff of 1 Administrator, 4 Supervisors and 12 Juvenile Correctional Officers. The JDC has been in operation since 1997.

The JDC serves delinquent youth from 10 years old to 18 years. Juveniles referred for Extended Juvenile Jurisdiction (EJJ) may be held until their 21^st birthday. The criterion for accepting juveniles is as follows:

1.     Child has been arrested for a violation of law that would be a felony or gross misdemeanor if committed by adult.

2.     Child arrested for violation of law that would be a misdemeanor if committed by an adult, and detention is not authorized unless the offense is a violation of MS:

518B.01 (violation of order for protection)

588.202 (contempt)

609.224 (assault) 

609.242 (domestic assault)

609.324 (prostitution related acts)

609.563 (arson 3^rd degree)

609.632 (arson 5^th degree)

609.576 (negligent fires)

609.665 (dangerous weapons)    

609.746 (interfere with privacy)

609.748 (violation of harassment order)

609.748 (violation of restraining order)                

609.79 (obscene/ harassing telephone calls)

617.23 (indecent exposure)

3. Child has been convicted of 3 petty misdemeanors and this is their 4^th petty misdemeanor
4. The offense is a misdemeanor level offense and the child haspreviously been convicted of a misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor or felony
5. Apprehension Order Note: check reason(s) they are on probation, must be for an offense(s) that meets the requirements of the offense(s) mentioned above.
6. Court Order/ Warrant- Note: Court order(s) and warrant(s) must be for an offense(s) that meets the requirements of the offense(s) mentioned above. If we cannot determine the offense(s) and it is after normal duty hours, we will take the juvenile on good faith and check on the offense(s) the next business day.

Juveniles brought for detention will not be will not be admitted if they are actively psychotic, suffering from severe mental illness, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, needing medical attention or unable to meet detention criteria. The supervisor on duty will assist law enforcement and/ or probation officers in finding appropriate services for juveniles who are not admitted.

Services

A.                 Detention

I.                   Pursuant to arrest

II.                Delinquent adjudication

III.             Apprehension and detention orders

IV.              Court Order/ Warrant (Contempt of Court)

V.                 Material Witness

VI.              Interstate compact

B.                 Health

I.                   24 hour access to medical services

II.                On site public health nurses (5 days a week)

III.             Contracted psychiatrist (1 day a week)

IV.              Medical and mental health screening

C.                Education

I.                   School

a.                 General education

b.                 Special education

c.                  IEP

d.                 GED

II.                Staff led group learning

a.                 Life Skills

b.                 Anger reduction

c.                  Pro- social skills

d.                 Chemical health

D.                Enrichment

I.                   Structured recreation

II.                Structured leisure time

III.             Celebration of holidays and birthdays

IV.              Religious counseling (Bible study, Native American,

Muslim, etc)

Juvenile Detention Center Description-

The JDC is a 17 bed facility divided into 3 separate housing sections. The largest of these is A pod which consists of 10 rooms and two dayrooms. The setting in A pod is primarily residential with wood doors and residential style furniture, but the locks and lights are remotely controlled and residents use intercoms to communicate with staff during lock down periods. During the times when residents can be out of their rooms there is always at least one staff member continuously and actively supervising A pod. In addition to facility wide offerings, A pod residents have regular access a ping pong table, foosball table, cardio vascular workout equipment, TV and DVD, library and telephone.

B pod has 4 rooms and looks much more like a "jail" environment. Furniture is detention steel bolted to the floor, doors are steel with food pass slots. Although each of the units in the JDC clearly fit a different security classification role often, B pod is typically used as "overflow" housing for A pod and/ or to separate girls from boys. When this is the case, the B pod is used primarily for sleeping and the kids assigned to B pod are allowed to spend the bulk of their time in the A pod dayrooms with the rest of the kids. When B pod is used in its capacity as a high security unit, higher risk kids are required to spend a larger amount of time restricted to their rooms and are not allowed to mix with kids in A pod. The facility control room has a direct line of sight into the B pod so it is under constant surveillance. While staff make regular "well being checks" the B pod is staffed only intermittently.

The C pod is a very restrictive 2 room unit designed to segregate residents who are being disciplined for violating facility rules; consistently exhibit disruptive, dangerous or uncontrolled behavior; require administrative segregation or require medical segregation. C pod has a negative airflow system so that airborne pathogens are exhausted directly out of the building instead of being re- circulated. Residents assigned to C pod are typically restricted to their rooms for 22 hours a day with only 2 hours out for exercise and hygiene needs.

The C pod has continuous visual observation from the control room and intermittent supervision from staff making regular well being checks.

Depending on their classification, residents in the JDC have access to 1 hour of supervised recreation per day, 1 hour of personal leisure time, limited TV and DVD, full day- Monday through Friday (Rochester Public) school, life skills groups, weekly bible study, library and psychological and behavioral assessments.