The state’s only juvenile detention facility, which has been the target in recent years of legal action over its restraint practices, is now empty.
It’s the first time the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex has had no youth within its walls to supervise since it opened more than 30 years ago.
The 30-bed Woodside facility is for youths, ages 10 to 18, in need of mental health treatment, and is overseen by the Vermont Department for Children and Families.
Up to about a year ago, Woodside housed six to 16 youths at a time.
However, in recent months those numbers have fallen to the low single digits. And this week that number fell to zero.
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office represents juveniles in court, said he learned around noon Wednesday that the only youth at the Woodside facility had left its care.
“This is quite extraordinary,” Valerio said Thursday. “This really is evidence of a shift in both demographics as well as attitudes as to how we deal with kids to get the best results for them.”
He added, “I also honestly believe that the work that we’ve done over the last few years to bring light to what we saw as problems at the facility has persuaded the people who would put kids in Woodside from doing so.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday he said Woodside’s low numbers are attributed to several factors. He cited legal action taken against the facility, different approaches in the criminal justice system for “emerging adults,” and increased use of community-based resources.
Ken Schatz, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, said the number of youth at Woodside has been on the decline for about the last five years. In the last three months, there were less than five children at the facility.
Schatz said there have been fewer juvenile delinquency cases in state family courts over the years.
“And we have worked over the last few years to enhance the array of community-based programs to meet the needs of youth in communities as much as possible,” he added.
As for the future of Woodside, Schatz said officials do not have a recommendation at this time.
“We’re definitely carefully looking at that,” he said.
He said the facility has a staff of about 50 people.
“They need to stand ready to admit a youth,” Schatz said, adding, “We have actually implemented some policy changes which they are working on getting trained on and doing the kind of things to make sure they’re actually prepared to provide appropriate care and supervision.”
The Vermont Defender General’s Office and Disability Rights Vermont have both sued Woodside.
The legal actions challenged Woodside’s physical restraint practices and seclusion and isolation of youth at the facility.
In the Disability Rights Vermont case, federal Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued a scathing preliminary junction order against DCF in August.
Crawford, in his ruling, wrote about a video he reviewed as part of the case showing the restraint of a teenage girl at the facility, in which she is naked and streaked with feces. The judge called it “horrific,” and “entirely inappropriate.”
The judge wrote in his order that the incident captured in that video “demonstrates in the space of a few minutes Woodside’s limited ability to care for a child who is experiencing symptoms of serious mental illness.”
At a hearing in that case last month, attorneys for DCF outlined changes and new training at Woodside.
In addition to new policies and practices, a section of Woodside which had been where youth in “isolation” were kept has been closed down with plans to turn it into a “therapeutic” space for counseling and family visiting.
A separate lawsuit was brought in state court in April by the Defender General’s Office in Washington County.
Judge Mary Miles Teachout dismissed that lawsuit as “moot” after the teen alleging the dangerous use of restraints at the Woodside facility had been released.
The future of Woodside remains an open question.
“Our big push was to protect the constitutional rights of minors who were there,” Ed Paquin, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont, said Thursday.
“I guess the question in my mind is the question that I think a lot of people would have, what is their future plan?”
Lawmakers last session discussed, but took no action, on a proposal that would have replaced the facility at a cost of $23.3 million.
Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield and chair of the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions, said Thursday that the state needs to figure out its policy before the Legislature invests money into construction.
“The policy would be in terms of what do we do with juveniles that are delinquent?” she said, adding that is a conversation that needs to take place with the administration and other policymaking committees.
“Are there more placements that are able to occur out in the community, and are those placements more effective?” she asked.
Once that policy is set, Emmons said, the next step is to determine whether the current Woodside facility meets that need.
“The question is to use the building for juveniles or not,” she said. “And then if you don’t use it for juveniles, what are you going to use it for?”
Sears, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would look to the administration for recommendations on Woodside’s future.
The senator said the general fund budget for Woodside totals about $5.5 million, and he expects the next legislative session, which starts in January, will include discussion on what is next for the facility.
“I still think you have a certain number of kids who are going to need to be dealt with, whether that number is three, four, or 10,” Sears said. “There’s still a need for detention for difficult to place kids.”
“We do need to have that alternative available,” he said. “Should we be spending $5.5 million on three or four kids? The answer is, no.”
