BILL REQ. #:  H-3876.1 

Read first time 01/27/12.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & Human Services.

     AN ACT Relating to creating a sentence for treatment program for juvenile offenders; reenacting and amending RCW 13.40.0357; adding a new section to chapter 13.40 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that:
     (1) The continuum of care for the juvenile rehabilitation administration has been stretched to the limit since the closure of Indian Ridge youth camp in 1999 and Mission Creek youth camp in 2001.
     (2) Closing the last remaining medium security, step-down facility in the department would seriously impede capacity to deliver effective rehabilitative services.
     (3) In a period of fiscal restraint, understandable consideration has been made to achieve savings by closing a medium security institution and consolidating the population in the bed space of remaining close security facilities. Further shrinking of the institutional continuum would require mixing incompatible subpopulations, resulting in genuine safety and security risks.
     (4) Furthermore, it would not be in the interest of the state to place youth who are appropriate for youth camp placement in an unnecessarily restrictive setting, such as an institution.
     (5) Unless the services and environment in a close security facility support and match the developmental, treatment, and security needs of the young people currently being served in a medium security facility, there is genuine potential some will be harmed rather than helped.
     (6) The legislature hereby recognizes and concurs with the findings of the juvenile rehabilitation administration strategic plan: 2009-2013, "It would serve nobody's best interests to place youth who are appropriate for youth camp placement in an unnecessarily restrictive setting like an institution. A "bed" is not just a bed. It is a facility placement for a young person. Unless the services and environment in a facility support and match the developmental, treatment, and security needs of the young people being served, there is genuine potential some will be harmed rather than helped..."
     (7) The legislature also recognizes that, "It is mission critical that JRA retain a continuum of care capable of responding to the complicated developmental, management, and treatment needs of this population."

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 13.40 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall maintain a medium security youth camp to fulfill the department's obligation to provide education, treatment, and job training to juvenile offenders in the least restrictive continuum of care. Juvenile offenders sentenced for treatment shall be placed in a medium security youth camp which offers education; treatment options to include sex offender, aggression reduction, and intensive inpatient chemical dependency programs; job training; and community-based work experience. This program for juvenile offenders serving a term of confinement under the supervision of the department is exempt from the licensing requirements of chapter 74.15 RCW.
     (2) The medium security youth camp for juvenile offenders shall be a structured and regimented model emphasizing the building up of an offender's self-esteem, confidence, and discipline. The sentence for treatment program shall provide participants with basic education, vocational training, work-based learning, work experience, work ethic skills, conflict resolution counseling, substance abuse intervention as assessed, including intensive inpatient chemical dependency treatment, anger management counseling, and victim awareness.
     (3) The department shall develop standards for the safe and effective operation of the sentence for treatment program, for successful program completion by the offender, and for the continued aftercare supervision of offenders who have successfully completed the program, including assistance with housing and job placement if needed.
     (4) Admission to the sentence for treatment program is voluntary. If the court determines that the offender is eligible for the sentence for treatment program, the court shall order the department to place the offender directly in the medium security youth camp where the department shall evaluate the offender and provide the court with recommended educational attainment, treatment, and length and type of work experience needed by the offender. Length of satisfactory work experience established by the court shall not exceed the length of time needed to complete educational attainment and treatment minus the time needed for assessment, orientation, and time off from work needed to meet treatment requirements. Time accrued as unsatisfactory work performance shall extend the sentence for treatment an equal number of days. No juvenile who is assessed as a high risk offender or suffers from any mental or physical problems that could endanger his or her health or drastically affect his or her performance in the program shall be retained in the sentence for treatment program.
     (5) If the activities of the juvenile offender while in the juvenile offender youth camp are so disruptive to the sentence for treatment program, as determined by the secretary according to standards developed by the department, which results in the removal of the juvenile offender from the youth camp, or if the offender cannot complete the sentence for treatment program due to medical problems, the secretary shall require that the offender be committed to a juvenile institution to serve the entire remainder of his or her disposition, less the amount of time already served in the sentence for treatment program.
     (6) All offenders who successfully complete the sentence for treatment program shall spend the remainder of his or her disposition on parole in a juvenile rehabilitation administration intensive aftercare program in the local community. Violations of the conditions of parole are subject to sanctions specified in RCW 13.40.210. The aftercare program shall provide for the needs of the offender based on his or her progress in the aftercare program as indicated by ongoing assessment of those needs and progress. The aftercare program shall monitor postprogram juvenile offenders and assist them to successfully reintegrate into the community. In addition, the aftercare program shall develop a process for closely monitoring and assessing public safety risks, and be designed and funded by the department.
     (7) The department shall also develop and maintain a database to measure recidivism rates specific to the sentence for treatment program. The database shall maintain data on all juvenile offenders who complete the sentence for treatment program for a period of two years following the completion of the program. The database shall also maintain data on the criminal activity, educational progress, and employment activities of all juvenile offender programs. Data by facility and program shall be updated every six months and available to the public by means of the internet.
     (8) For the purposes of this section:
     (a) "Medium security youth camp" or "youth camp" means a medium security forestry camp that accepts juvenile offenders of a minimum or medium security risk.
     (b) "Sentence for treatment" means an alternative sentencing option offered at the discretion of the court which carries a comprehensive mandate of certain educational attainment, successful completion of substance abuse, chemical dependency or sex offender treatment, and/or vocational experience for a particular juvenile offender. Upon successful completion of the specified treatment or attainment of the prescribed educational or vocational achievement, the extent of the standard disposition remaining is served by the offender on an intensive supervision program administered by the administration.

Sec. 3   RCW 13.40.0357 and 2008 c 230 s 3 and 2008 c 158 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows: