A new investigation is underway at the state’s only juvenile detention facility, prompted by the treatment of the only youth still being held there.
Another probe was already underway in a separate case at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex; it involves the use of restraints on youths that has been termed “unacceptable” by the head of the state department overseeing the facility and has led to the suspension of five staff members.
“We did just open up, based on this new allegation, another investigation,” Sean Brown, commissioner of the state Department for Children and Families, told lawmakers during a video hearing Thursday.
Brown said in an interview Friday there was little more he could say publicly about the new investigation.
“Right now, we’re still in the early stages of it,” Brown said. “No staff are on relief from duty but we’re still reviewing the circumstances.”
The Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex is a 30-bed secure facility with an annual budget of about $6 million. The number of youths being held there has fallen in recent years, and now there’s only one there.
Woodside opened more than 30 years ago to care for young people the courts have judged to be delinquent.
Disability Rights Vermont has sued DCF over the treatment of youth at the facility; its supervising attorney, A.J. Ruben, said he could not comment on the specifics of the latest investigation.
“I can say there is only one child at the facility and the child has been there as the only child for at least two weeks, if not longer,” Ruben said. “The situation is really unacceptable.
“We have concerns that he’s there as the only child, which is basically isolation from his peers, and we have concerns about how he is being treated while he is there,” he said.
Brown had said earlier this month that another probe is taking place, stemming from a different incident June 29. That investigation is continuing, the commissioner said. Brown also said Friday that the new investigation does not involve restraints or seclusion of the youth.
He told the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee earlier this month that his department is no longer accepting any new admissions to Woodside, due in part to concerns over the safety of young people being held there.
He reiterated those comments during his testimony this week to the oversight committee, and laid out more specific plans to replace the services that have been provided at Woodside.
Facility scheduled to close Oct. 1
The administration of Gov. Phil Scott has been pushing to close Woodside since late last year, citing few youth in its care.
The state started seeking a contract with a private provider earlier this year. It’s now negotiating with Becket Family of Services of Orford, N.H., to operate a secure youth treatment facility in Vermont with at least five beds within the next nine to 12 months, likely in an existing building. The commissioner said that, since contract talks are still going on, he could not say where in Vermont that facility would be located.
In the meantime, Brown said, the state is working with current community-based providers to find appropriate placement for youth, both in-state and out-of-state, when a secure facility is needed.
If a youth comes into DCF custody during the evening or over the weekend and a secure placement cannot immediately be arranged, Brown said, the department is working on an agreement with the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department to provide short-term secure supervision.
The youth placement would occur at Yellow House, a residential facility in Hyde Park that’s owned by the sheriff’s department, Brown said. The Yellow House staff and sheriff’s deputies would provide security while a long-term placement for the youth is pursued, Brown said.
The goal, Brown said, is to permanently close Woodside by Oct. 1.
According to financial data provided in DCF’s report this week to the Legislature, the department will seek a $4,604,412 as the “base” Woodside budget for the current fiscal year. That includes
- $1,470,029 for continued operation of Woodside through the three months.
- $1,526,704 for its contract with the New Hampshire provider.
- $1.2 million in one-time costs to upgrade the new facility somewhere in Vermont.
- $407,679 for contracted services and grants.
For fiscal year 2022, Brown said, the contracted youth security contract is expected to cost between $3.6 million and $4.1 million, “with additional staffing costs associated with placement.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked if the New Hampshire agency will be eligible for federal Medicaid reimbursement, which could absorb most of the cost. Woodside’s not Medicaid-eligible because it doesn’t meet the federal criteria for a psychiatric residential treatment facility.
“We believe it would be; we’re still doing that analysis right now,” Brown said. “It would be a treatment facility.”
“I would hope that before you ask the Legislature to approve this plan,” Sears told Brown, “there will be some definite information regarding the ability to match the funds and how it’s all going to be done.”
Second probe this year
Disability Rights Vermont, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people with disabilities and mental health issues, sued the state and DCF last year, alleging dangerous conditions for youths held at Woodside.
Last summer, a federal judge granted an injunction against the state, ordering the department to take several steps, including training staff members on national standards for use of physical restraints. A settlement was later reached, formalizing corrective actions the state must take to improve conditions at the facility.
However, Disability Rights Vermont filed a motion last month, asserting the state had violated that agreement, citing, among other things, the June 29 incident involving the alleged inappropriate use of restraints on a youth.
“Review of video from a June 29 incident involving two youth confirms that the same, or even more dangerous, pain-inflicting maneuvers that existed prior to this litigation were used again,” the court motion stated, “despite this court’s preliminary injunction order and order approving the settlement agreement.”
Woodside has gone through several changes in leadership over the past few months and has had to move its operations to other locations to free up space in its Essex facility to care for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. However, Woodside was never used for that purpose because Vermont did not experience a huge surge in cases. Woodside moved operations back to the Essex site in May.
At one point, about 50 people worked at Woodside. That number has since dwindled to about 20, as fewer young people are being held and talk of closure over the past several months has prompted many staffers to find other jobs.
The Vermont State Employees’ Association, the union representing Woodside workers, has strongly opposed the Scott’s administration move to close Woodside and Vince Illuzzi, a lobbyist for the association, again blasted the plan when he testified before the legislative panel Thursday.
Illuzzi proposed keeping Woodside open, but at a smaller scale, to care for a youth when a secure setting is needed.
“Yes, it will take general funds to fund a 10-bed facility,” Illuzzi said. “But every state, including Vermont, has a core population that it cannot treat at an accessible, in-state program.”
He said the dangers of privatizing services provided at Woodside include the loss of control and oversight. Illuzzi also opposed sending youths to out-of-state facilities, rather than providing the services in Vermont.
Brown said very few delinquent youths are now sent out of state. The exceptions would need a specialized treatment program.
“Would the state provide staffing for Becket?” asked Sen. Cheryl Hooker, D-Rutland, a committee member.
“No ,” Brown replied, though “they would be free to hire former state employees and current state employees, if they so choose.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: As Woodside juvenile center is slated to close Oct. 1, second probe is underway.