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RIBCO
Articles of Interest
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2007-01-29
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Union Leader: Fights Endangering Children, Staff at Youth Center |
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Belleville.com
Posted on Fri, Jan. 26, 2007
Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Ill. - Fights among youth at a disciplinary center have become a near-daily occurrence since the state halted a program meant to deter such violence, putting children and staff in danger, a union leader said.
On Dec. 19, the state halted the Illinois Youth Center's "resocialization program," under which children who engaged in serious fighting, threats, gang activity or frequent intimidation were removed from the general population for two to six weeks until they showed better behavior.
"Our members and incarcerated youth are being assaulted with a frequency previously unknown at Harrisburg," Buddy Maupin - regional director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - said Thursday in a letter sent to the acting director the state's new Department of Juvenile Justice.
"It is impossible to create and maintain a climate of rehabilitation and education at Harrisburg when a youth cannot count on the Department of Juvenile Justice to maintain his safety," Maupin wrote in the letter to Kurt Friedenauer.
Maupin said the program deterred violence and created a secure environment for other youth to be schooled and counseled without interference.
Derek Schnapp, a state Department of Corrections spokesman, declined Friday to discuss why the program was halted or what it entailed. But he discounted Maupin's claims, saying "we are running what we feel is a safe and secure facility."
"Safety and security have not been compromised by any decisions made, and we will not let it be compromised," Schnapp said. "Nothing's been compromised for those youths."
Maupin said 14 of the center's union-backed workers are on leave for injuries related to assaults by youth, compounding an already-pressing staffing shortage.
He also said center security has declined since last July, when the juvenile division of the state Department of Corrections became the Department of Juvenile Justice, a stand-alone agency.
"Let me say that the youth and the AFSCME workers of this new agency are crying out for leadership and restoration of a secure environment within which rehabilitation can occur for youth, and within which staff can go home safe at the end of each day," Maupin wrote.
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