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Juvenile Detention Centers: Are They Warehousing Children with Mental Illness?: Hearing Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs
Original publisher: Washington: U.S. G.P.O.: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 2004. LC Number: KF26 .G67 2004m OCLC Number: (OCoLC)57364188 Subject: Juvenile detention homes -- United States. Excerpt: ... 11 treatment. It is outrageous that we do this to children with mental illness, and there are four points I would like to make today. One, children and families are suffering unthinkable con-sequences from this crisis. My first involvement with this issue was the death by hanging of an 18-year-old whose mental illness and substance use disorder had been untreated for years. He died in Maine's most restrictive prison - the super-max - because he was suicidal and no hospital bed could be found. More recently, Maine settled a lawsuit on behalf of a child com-mitted to the youth center at age 13. He was suffering from depres-sion and suicidal ideation, held in isolation for 152 of his first 240 days. Each of five future admissions also resulted in long periods of isolation, behavior deterioration, depression, aggression, and eventually self-mutilation. Just last week, I spoke to two moms. Both tried unsuccessfully for years to secure school-based services for their mentally ill sons. The schools sent them home or suspended them for not following school rules. The moms nearly lost their jobs. The other children begged to have their brothers kicked out. Eventually, the courts, with few resources, incarcerated them. Once incarcerated, the boys lived with more accomplished juveniles. One mom said, ' ' If I could ask anything, I would ask, ' What money did you save by denying my son mental health treatment and services? ' ' ' The second mom said, ' ' My son learned to cut himself in there. ' ' Two, juvenile detention centers are the worst possible environ-ment for children with mental illnesses. Many of the techniques used in correctional settings, like prolonged isolation and restraint, actually lead to increased, not decreased, acting out and self-harm... Hide synopsis
