The Division of Youth Corrections is responsible for management and oversight of State-operated and privately contracted residential facilities, and for community alternative programs that serve and treat youth aged 10-21 years who have demonstrated delinquent behavior. Programs and services administered by or under contract with the Division serve over 10,000 youth throughout Colorado in intensive secure units, medium care units, a military-style boot camp, secure detention, staff secure facilities and non-secure community residential programs. In addition, the Division provides assessment program services for committed youth at four State facilities as well as nonresidential services to youth in community settings and youth on parole. The Division is also responsible for allocating funds by formula to each judicial district in accordance with Senate Bill 91-94 to develop local alternatives to incarceration as a
means of reducing reliance on costly residential placement. Local SB91-94 programs serve approximately 10,000 youth per year.
History of the Division of Youth Corrections
Early Years
State supported residential services for delinquent children in Colorado date back to the late 19th century. In fact, the State Industrial School For Boys was established in 1881 and administered by a State Board of Control. The first school Superintendent was W. C. Sampson who served from January 5, 1881 to April 15, 1889. The following excerpt taken from the Biennial Report of the State Industrial School for Boys 1903-1904 provides a description of this early residential program for boys:"A splendid flag pole has been erected. Gymnasium apparatus has been purchased. Night men have been put in all the dormitories. Some machinery has been installed in the woodworking department. A small barn has been built for the thoroughbred cattle. Much new fence has been built and painted. The campus has been enlarged. Trees have been set out about the grounds and swimming pool. The exhibit of work from the Industrial School captured first prize and a diploma at the State Fair at Pueblo, in 1903, and our exhibit at the World’s Fair has been awarded a gold medal, besides eliciting letters containing words of praise from educators on both sides of the Atlantic." A residential program for delinquent girls was opened 13 years after the establishment of the State Industrial School For Boys. According to the following history written in 1969 by the Director of Mount View Girl’s School, Betty Portner (a position she held for over 30 years), the school for girls was relocated on several occasions in its early years of operation:"The State Home & Industrial School for Girls was opened on October 1, 1894, in Denver. The Home was state supported, but at this time, and for a number of years thereafter, all of the counties were required to pay 50 cents per day per student. At the time of the opening, it housed 37 girls, by the end of 1896, it was fast outgrowing facilities, and early in 1899, the school was relocated in Aurora, just east of Denver. It then consisted of five rented cottages. However, the lease on this property expired in March, 1900, and after several months of negotiations, the State obtained a contract to purchase 40 acres South and West of Denver, three miles west of Fort Logan. On August 2, 1900, 36 girls and six officers moved into the home purchased at the present site of the school (currently MVYSC). In 1919, and again in 1947, the State was able to acquire two adjacent tracts, each of which amounted to ten acres, making the total holdings of the State of Colorado for the Girl’s School 60 acres". In the early 1900s, the total number of boys and girls being held in both of these facilities was less than 300. In contrast, Division of Youth Correction's residential programs had an average daily population of 973 youth throughout Colorado and in some out-of-state placements during fiscal year 1997-98.
Creation of the Division of Youth Services
It was not until 1959 that the Division of Youth Services (DYS) was established by the Legislature as a Division within the Department of Institutions. At the time of its creation, the DYS was responsible for the administration of three residential programs: the State Children’s Home (a placement for dependent and neglect infants, children and youth in southeast Denver); the State Industrial School for Boys (currently Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden); and the State Industrial School for Girls (currently Mount View Youth Services Center in southwest Denver). DYS was also responsible for administration of the Division of Juvenile Parole. However, administration of juvenile detention during this period was still the responsibility of the State Department of Judicial.
When the State Children’s Home was closed in fiscal year 1971, the children were placed in numerous "group homes" throughout the Denver metropolitan area. Those homes were phased out over time as the children were either adopted or were emancipated at 18 years of age.
Juvenile Detention
In fiscal year 1974, the administration of juvenile detention was transferred by the Legislature from the State Judicial Department to the Department of Institutions, and by extension, to the Division of Youth Services. (Prior to the State Judicial Department's assumption of juvenile detention administration in 1970, the counties held jurisdiction over day-to-day detention operations.) As a result of, the DYS assumed responsibility for the following juvenile detention centers: Denver Juvenile Hall, Zebulon Pike Juvenile Detention Center, El Paso County Juvenile Detention, Arapahone County Youth Evaluation Center, Adams County Juvenile Detention Center, and the Jefferson County Juvenile Center. Incidently, the Jefferson County Juvenile Center, which served the 1st, 5th, and 18th Judicial Districts, was returned to the county and demolished in order to make space for the Jefferson County Administration and Judicial complex. The DYS constructed a new and larger facility on the Mount View Campus in fiscal year 1986.
Two additional Juvenile Detention facilities were developed by the DYS in 1978; Pueblo Youth Services Center (located in Pueblo) and Grand Mesa Youth Services Center (located in Grand Junction). Almost twenty years later, the Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center was opened in southeast Denver to serve the detention needs of the 18th Judicial District. The Platte Valley Youth Services Center in Greeley was also opened in 1997, serving both the detention needs (60 beds) and secure treatment needs (60 beds) for youth in the Division’s Northeast Region (which serves the 8th, 13th, 17th, 19th and 20th Judicial Districts). Youth requiring pretrial detention service in Adams County, the 17th Judicial District, will continue to be served by the Adams Youth Services Center in Brighton. The Southern Region (which serves the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th and 16th Judicial Districts) gained additional detention and institutional treatment capacity with the opening of the Spring Creek Youth Services Center in February 1998. The facility accommodates 60 youth in pretrial detention and 60 committed youth in the treatment program.
The Legislature changed the name of the Division of Youth Services to the Office of Youth Services in 1995. Then, in 1996 the agency name was changed once again to the Division of Youth Corrections. The director of the Division of Youth Corrections reports directly to the Executive Director of the Department of Human Services, as can be seen in the Organizational Flowchart.
DYC Regional Management Structure
In fiscal year 1986, the Division regionalized its administration of pretrial serves and established regional offices with staff capable of providing case management and parole supervision of each youth committed from the region. The following management regions were therefore created: Central, Denver, Northeast, Southern, and Western. These management regions are responsible for the following areas:
Administration
• Pretrial Services: Financial Responsibilities:
• Supervise the Director of State operated secure detention facility(s)
• Contract for pretrial programs.
• Assist in the development of Requests for Proposals (RFP) and contracts submitted.
• Monitor contracts for compliance and program effectiveness
• Meet regularly with the District Court Judges within the detention catchment areas.
• Review DYC Policies and procedures with detention staff to assure compliance
• Review Critical Incidence Reports to determine if policies and procedures were followed and if any changes or
• modifications to the policies or procedures need to be made.
• Participate in the planning and development of new resources that would reduce the inappropriate use of
• secure detention - SB94 programming
• Participate in the Department and Division budget process
• Personnel Responsibilities:
• Responsible for all personnel actions: PACE -(employee performance) - planning and evaluations
• Review all grievances
• Hire as well as terminate staff
• Represent the DYC Director’s Office
• Liaison with the courts and all other youth serving agencies-public and private.
• Respond to complaints and function as a consumer advocate.
Treatment Services
• Supervise the Program Manager and the Client Managers assigned to the regional office as well as Agency Director(s)
• Assure that DYC Policies and Procedures are fully implemented: Discrete Care Plans are written and monitored; cases are in compliance with IV-E; and Medicaid Rules and Regulations are followed
• Develop RFP and contracts for residential and nonresidential services for youth committed within the region.
• Develop transitional services for parolees.
• Monitor all contracted services.
Program Management
• Assists in the development of RFP to facilitate the establishment of community- based residential and nonresidential programs which will address the needs of youth committed from the region.
• Supervise and monitor the placements of youth within the region to maximize the level of treatment required on behalf of the youth, protection of the community and use of resources allocated to DYC and the regions.
• Negotiate contracts with providers assuring that needed treatment programs are in place and costs are within budget limitations.
• Monitor programs for contract compliance.
• Responsible to assigning cases to client managers to assure equity of case-loads and as closely as possible match client manager "worker style" to the youth’s needs.
• Assist in the supervision of client management/parole staff to assure treatment plans are followed and services are available and operational.
Client Management/Parole
• Develop Discrete Case Plans (DCP) for each youth assigned to them.
• Meet with family, review documents provided by the courts, probation, social services, schools, employers, youth agencies that have had contact and interaction with the youth and the DYC diagnostician/assessment staff in the development of the DCP.
• Regularly meet with DYC and contracted treatment staff to monitor the youth’s progress relevant to the program set forth in the DCP.
• Monitor the specified treatment program to assure it is in compliance with the DCP.
• Present the youth’s community treatment plan to the Community Review Board when community-based programming is prescribed in the DCP.
• Prepare the Parole Plan and present the plan and the youth for parole before the Juvenile Parole Board.
• Supervise and monitor each youth’s progress while on parole.
• Maintain timely and accurate records of each assigned youth and record required case information of the automated/computer based case records system.
Administrative Assistant
• Responsible to maintain accurate records regarding finances, contractual agreements, regional meetings and assist in the management of the office.
Senate Bill 94 Initiative
Background: Prior to the 1991 Session of the Legislature, the projections for future Division of Youth Corrections (DYC) populations were indicating the need for approximately 500 additional secure placement beds. Discussions among the Executive Director of the Department of Institutions, DYC Staff, Legislators and Joint Budget Committee Staff included the possibility of local options and early intervention as a viable alternative to building expensive state facilities. These discussions culminated in the development of Senate Bill 94 which was introduced and adopted during the 1991 Legislative Session. The bill contained provisions that:
• Outlined a process for the development of criteria for placement of juveniles in secure state facilities;
• Specified that a formula should be developed for the allocation of resources to each county in the state for the development of local services to be utilized as alternatives to the placement of youths in secure state facilities;
• Authorized the establishment of pilot programs in local jurisdictions that would provide services for juveniles that would help relieve overcrowding in state operated facilities;
• Specified that guidelines should be established for the emergency release of juveniles from state facilities during periods of crisis overcrowding;
• Provided for the establishment of a Juvenile Services Fund that would distribute funds to local jurisdictions on or after July 1, 1993 based on a local juvenile services plan developed by each jurisdiction. Plans were to include but not be limited to such services as intervention, treatment, supervision, lodging, assessment, bonding programs and family services.
During the summer of 1991 committees were appointed to develop plans to implement the various provisions of the legislation. During the following months of FY 1991-92 criteria was developed, twelve pilot projects were implemented and an emergency release plan was designed. The pilot projects continued through September of 1993.
Senate Bill 134: Senate Bill 134, enacted during the 1993 Legislative Session, changed the local jurisdictions for funding allocations from counties to judicial districts, specified how local juvenile services planning committees were to be appointed, and how plans were to be approved.
Senate Bill 94 Statewide Evaluation: Funding was provided for a statewide evaluation of the effectiveness of local juvenile services plans in reducing the populations in State operated detention and treatment facilities . Annual program evaluation reports are submitted to the Legislature on November 1 of each year.
Senate Bill 94 Statewide Advisory Committee: In 1992, the DYC appointed a statewide advisory committee composed of members of juvenile justice agencies to advise the DYC on policy and program issues affecting the successful implementation of the legislation. The committee has reviewed criteria for placement and the allocation formula, provided input on program evaluation, developed formats for the yearly submission of local SB94 plans, and reviewed and approved all plans prior to implementation.
Senate Bill 94 Detention Assessment Services: In 1995, a subcommittee, composed of representatives of local planning committees, providers, and agency representatives, developed standardized procedures for detention screening and assessment. A detention "Screening and Assessment Guide" was field tested throughout the State. Based on this field test, revisions were made and the instrument was implemented statewide in January, 1996. The detention assessment is designed for use at the time a youth is taken into custody and referred to secure detention, staff secure detention and SB94 funded alternatives to detention. The data collected from the screening and assessment instrument has provided useful profile information on juveniles served in each of these program types.
Common Senate Bill 94 Services: While each local juvenile services planning committee has the responsibility and freedom to develop a SB94 plan that meets the specific needs of its particular judicial district, there are services that are common to many judicial districts. Such services include: case management, tracking, electronic monitoring, the juvenile intensive supervision program, work programs, multi-disciplinary assessment and case planning, mentoring, gender and ethnic specific counseling, parenting classes, referral to mental health and drug/alcohol services, and staff secure detention.
