Field Trip but Not to the Zoo

Sorry, I didn't write yesterday. I'm sure all two of my readers missed me very much. It was a very busy day and I just wasn't feeling it last night. Please forgive me. I promise you will get two Blog Challenge posts though to make up for my blogging misdeed. But first a little bit about why I was so busy yesterday.  My Juvenile Delinquency class went to the JCC (Juvenile Corrections Center) in St. Anthony.  Usually when we think of correctional facilities (juvenile or adult) we think of something like these pictures:

Barb wired fences

Very lonely prison cells

Lots and lots of handcuffs

Or maybe it's just me who thinks about images like that.  Which is why I LOVE this facility and the program that they run (Positive Peer Culture).  They don't have a barb wired fence surrounding the facility.  They have one tall fence by the road to keep the juvenile's friends OUT.  And that was only recently put up in probably the last ten years.  They don't need to put a fence up because this program WORKS.  The program is built around juveniles helping each other.  That is why most programs fail.  They are built around helping only yourself and these teens don't want to help themselves.  They think they are fine and even though they may incarcerated there is no problem.  But from the moment these teens are placed in a PPC group, they are held responsible for the other nine people in the group. If they notice that another guy/girl is struggling with their Authority problem, they address it right then and there.  Doesn't matter if they are in the middle of gym class, if they notice that another in group is flipping other people off, they will stop and they talk about the problem.  They don't wait until group that afternoon, they address it right then.

Another aspect of this program is that while the staff is still in control and in charge, the juveniles are given responsibility.  If one of them tries to attack another, they will restrain that juvenile themselves and then hold them down until they calm down.  Whether it is five minutes or five hours.  They will stay there and restrain them (all nine holding down the one) until they are calm, they realize they messed up and as a group decide how to address and resolve the problem.  It is amazing. This program truly works, the recidivism rates (basically the rate of returning to prison) are very low.  I don't remember the exact statistics right now but they are much lower than other programs.

After the tour and learning how both the juveniles and the staff restrain (staff restrain mostly only in situations where they are put in danger themselves or where a juvenile is trying to run), we got to talk to a sex offender group.  Which I think made this experience even better for me for a couple reasons.  They were just normal teens who kept messing up.  I know I messed up a lot when I was a teenager.  Mine just weren't crimes.  We also got to ask them questions and get to see their perspective of everything.  One of the questions asked was how this program compared to other programs or facilities.  Every single one of them said that they liked this program way more than the others because they were held responsible for each other and that they had learned more.  One boy had been to I think he said four other programs and incarcerated for four years and he said that he had learned and changed more in his time at the JCC than they had in all the other programs combined.  I love this program and I am so grateful that I got to go visit the facility and learn more.  Just knowing about this program is going to make me a million times better as a social worker.

Oh and here is a link about PPC if my explanation didn't quite make sense. It is a quote straight from our textbook about it.