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This story was updated at 6:14 p.m.
Vermont’s Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center has temporarily closed to youth, and will be converted to a space to care for psychiatric patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
The four youth and staff who had been housed at the 30-bed Woodside facility, the state’s only secure juvenile detention center, are now in a separate location in St. Albans, according to Ken Schatz, commissioner of the state Department for Children and Families.
Schatz announced the change March 25 over a video conference call with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“We literally have closed Woodside on a temporary basis as of yesterday because of the need to use the facility for an alternative psychiatric facility to support patients with COVID-19 symptoms,” Schatz told panel members.
“That came about,” he said, “as a result of the inpatient hospitals having lots of conversation and concerns about how to prepare for the crisis and the reality that they needed a separate place for people with symptoms so as not to spread the virus.”
The move was made in consultation with the state Department of Mental Health, he said.
Schatz said the temporary Woodside replacement location in St. Albans is large enough for six beds for youth.
“We basically are setting this up as an interim, state-run, staff-secure program in St. Albans,” he said. “We’re obviously doing the work we need to do to make sure kids are safe, that we have an appropriate program for that.”
Woodside staff has been moved to the St. Albans location, he said.
“We’ll be obviously adjusting as time goes on, but we just needed to move quickly to respond to this crisis,” he said.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and committee chair, said it was his understanding that the St. Albans site is a “staff-secure facility,” but not a locked facility like Woodside.
“That is correct,” Schatz said. “Our view is, looking at the population we need to serve, we are comfortable that we can meet the need for safety of the community and of the youth with a very closely staff supervised program at the present time.”
Sears asked if there was enough room for all the staff of Woodside, or about 50 people.
“We’re working on it, let me be straightforward,” Schatz said. “We’re moving quickly here. We appreciate the flexibility of staff. We obviously need to make sure we meet their needs.”
The fate of Woodside, and whether it should even remain open going into the future, has been hotly debated in recent months.
The facility in Essex serves youth, ages 10 to 18, often in need of mental health treatment. The numbers of youth at Woodside has been dwindling for over a year, averaging less than a handful a day. At one point last year, for about a day no youth were at the facility.
Over the past year, the Vermont Defender General’s Office and Disability Rights Vermont have both filed lawsuits against Woodside and DCF, challenging the use of physical restraints at the facility, as well as seclusion and isolation of youth at Woodside.
In the Disability Rights Vermont case, federal Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued a preliminary injunction requiring DCF to update its policies to conform with national standards regarding the use of restraints, in addition to implementing other changes.
The Scott administration had announced plans to close the facility, citing the low number of youth in its care, and four parties last month submitted bids to provide the services currently being offered at the Woodside facility.
Legislative committees have been taking testimony this current legislative session from state officials, treatment providers, advocacy organizations, and workers at Woodside.
Schatz, the DCF commissioner, told the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the move to permanently close Woodside has taken a backseat in recent weeks in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Frankly, events have overtaken us,” he said.
Schatz said he has communicated with advocates for youth about the move.
“It wasn’t a secret,” the commissioner said. “Information had been shared for a few days.”
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office represents juveniles in court, said in an interview Wednesday that he understood the need for the move of the youth from the Woodside facility, and did not have any immediate concerns with it.
Both Ed Paquin, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont, and the organization’s supervising attorney, A.J. Ruben, expressed support Wednesday after the meeting for moving the youth out of Woodside, but had concerns about the future use of that facility.
Even with the move to a different site, Ruben said, changes in the practices and procedures at Woodside spurred by the earlier federal court order remain in effect at the new site.
“We have been in contact with the attorneys for the state,” Ruben said. “The lawyers for the state have advised us that the new policies that we worked together to create at the old facility will be in place at the new facility.”
Regarding the new use of Woodside, Paquin talked about how Woodside was built as a detention facility and as a result does not lend itself to therapeutic care.
“It’s not a really comfortable place,” he said, “especially if people who are brought there are people with psychiatric issues and are contending with symptoms of the COVID-19 virus.”
He added, “I can see why they needed to act quickly, but it’s something I would hate to see used as a mental health facility for a long time.”
Paquin did say that he has received assurances from the state that people will not be kept there if they develop severe respiratory distress. “They will be treated at a medical unit appropriately,” Paquin said.
Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said during the video conference that he had heard concerns about the move
“I have received over the last 24 hours a couple of communications from workers at the new facility and I will just give you a couple of phrases and allow you to respond to them, ‘unsafe situation at new facility’ and ‘hostile work environment,’” Baruth said to Schatz, asking if he’d been in touch with workers.
“I have not heard directly,” Schatz replied. “I’m glad to, immediately after my testimony, to talk with the family services division leadership to make sure that we do talk with staff, find out what their perceptions are, and do our best to address them.”
Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, said in an interview following the committee meeting that he did have concerns about the Woodside move.
“This was very abrupt, but we’re in a crisis,” he said. “The space they are in is very confined, a lot of people in the same space. That’s not what the governor recommends. We hope that’s going to get fixed.”
Also, he said, the move was not well-planned and appears to have been “slapped together” very quickly.
“They were moving files in people’s cars and the food situation has not been worked out,” Howard said.
Also, he said, there are staff concerns that the youth at the new site were sent to a secure facility and that is not what is currently being provided. “They’re in a facility now in which the bedrooms have windows, there are no locks or alarms on the doors, and there are no recreational facilities in the middle of a COVID outbreak,” Howard said.
Schatz, in an interview Wednesday, said that the department had to act quickly and is responding to the “emergent” needs related to COVID-19.
“We’re trying to support our human services system as a whole to make sure we do what we can to care for citizens who need support, including those with COVID-19 symptoms,” he said.
“There had been for months very [few] youth at Woodside,” the commissioner added, “so it made sense to close it for purposes of placement for youth, and allow it to get a better use with respect to people exhibiting COVID-19 symptons.”
Sears, the committee chair, said during the video conference meeting, that he would be holding a session Friday to hear from the VSEA and their concerns.
“This obviously, as Ken said, is not an ideal situation,” Sears said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Woodside converts to COVID-19 facility for psychiatric patients.