Mentally Ill Youths Kept in Juvenile Detention Centers Because of Lack of Treatment Options, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Series Says

Many of the young people housed in juvenile detention centers have mental illnesses and have been placed there because the mental health system cannot accomodate them, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports in the first of a four-part series on mentally ill youth. Children often are placed in detention centers because they have allegedly committed "serious" criminal acts, but in many cases, the "offenses ... can be traced to their mental problems," the Post-Gazette reports (Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/15). Between 40% and 70% of incarcerated juveniles have a diagnosable mental illness and about 10% have a serious mental illness, such as severe depression (Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/16). Mary Previte, administrator of the New Jersey-based Camden County Youth Center, said, "When this country de-institutionalized youth with mental health problems, they were quickly re-institutionalized in juvenile lockups." David Doi, executive director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, said that cutbacks in government mental health programs for youth and "difficulty" in getting private insurance to cover treatment have created a "huge gap between needs and services." He added, "In an ideal world, they'd never get into the juvenile justice system and we'd have mental health services available for them."

Lack of Options
After mentally ill youth are placed in juvenile detention, they end up staying for "weeks or even months until some alternative placement ... can be found." But once in a detention center, these children rarely receive treatment for their mental illnesses (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/15). Juvenile justice and mental health professionals say they have a "lack of alternatives" to help youth with mental health problems, the Post-Gazette reports in the second part of the series. Delinquent teens arrive at detention centers on "short notice" and with "incomplete medical histories." Even after the teens receive a medical examination and mental health screening, it could take days before detention center officials "understan[d] what's really going on with a particular youth." Even youth with known mental health problems rarely receive treatment because "centers aren't really equipped to provide mental health therapy," the Post-Gazette reports. States like Pennsylvania have closed most adolescent units in state mental hospitals, which were replaced by privately run community mental health programs (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/16). And those community-based treatment centers "can refuse applicants they don't want," meaning that children in juvenile detention centers are "the ones who wait the longest to get into a residential facility -- if they get in at all," the Post-Gazette reports (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/15). The first two pieces in the series, are available online, as the remaining two pieces in the series, to be published JUly 17 and 18, will be.