solved Review the Marion, Ohio facility (now closed) and comment using

Review the Marion, Ohio facility (now closed) and comment using the end questions in the discussion board. 
Three basic goals

Obedience/conformity
Reeducation/development
Treatment

Overall objective in most – safe secure and humane environment. Official Description – Marion Juvenile Correctional Facility (MaJCF) is an American Correctional Association (ACA) accredited facility located in Marion, Ohio.
The facility’s 12 housing units can accommodate various population needs. The Chemical Dependency Unit provides a treatment focus that strives to break the dependency cycle that leads to felonious behavior. The Transition Unit assists youth to prepare for a successful reintegration into society. The Behavior Intervention Unit (BIU) enables the housing and management of youth who have difficulty conforming to agency rules and regulations, therefore causing a threat to themselves and to facility security. There is also an Intensive Mental Health Unit to address the unique treatment needs of this population. All of the residents are male. Marion’s accredited Hickory Grove High School provides a diverse curriculum encouraging youth to achieve high school graduation. The school also provides several vocational opportunities such as warehousing and distribution, barbering, auto mechanics, office technology, graphics communications, and horticulture. Graduates are provided actual work experience that will translate into employment opportunities upon release
My Visit to Marion
Marion is trying to enrich their offerings to juveniles. The following is a little background on the facility. They are the juvenile facility in Ohio where the worst juveniles are sent. Most have a history of serious crimes, many of those violent. The juveniles generally are older. The facility has some dorm style rooms but it also has many traditional single cells. The single cells face a central room where the juveniles watch television and yell out at each other. During the daytime the juveniles are given time to go eat, exercise and take part in school and/or vocational training. There is a very strict schedule. I observed juveniles marching back and forth from their housing to breakfast and school.  
The facility does have a high school that offers high school diplomas and GED’s. Most of the students are processed out of the facility within a year. Because they rotate out it is difficult for the juveniles to get a high school diploma. Many take classes and move on. The school is focused on getting students a GED. Teachers are brought in from outside the school. Some have been assaulted, but most appear to be dedicated to the students. Students lose their education rights if they display conduct problems.
Vocational activities as I saw them included the building trade, auto mechanics, computer usage, graphic design and barbering. A closer look at the vocational activities reveals the following: computer usage is tied closely to school. Individuals get to work on the various programs that one generally comes across in an office. The programs are stand alone and are not tied into the working components of the facility. The graphic design department is responsible for printing fliers and such for the prison. The printers are tied into several computers. The building trades shop consists of students learning to build walls. The walls are built using materials supplied at no cost to the facility. After the students build the walls they stop. The walls are torn down (the remnants were in a pile when I visited) and then new walls are rebuilt in the same spot. No other projects are attempted and the prison can’t sell barns or other built projects because the wood is donated. In auto mechanics three donated cars were in the garage area. The vehicles have never been driven after they entered the shop. Students take turns changing the oil, rotating tires, doing some engine work and changing the oil. Students remove clean oil they likely put in before and change brakes that have never been used. The lug nuts are wearing out due to excessive tire rotation. Cars in the state motor pool are not brought in for service due to regulations. Most of the juveniles prefer to work in the barber shop. It is the social center of the jail where information and talk is freely exchanged. The juveniles get to cut each other’s hair using barbershop implements.
All youth committed to Ohio’s juvenile system will eventually return to their communities. In 2005, nearly 2,000 youth were released onto parole. Unfortunately, statistics predict that within 1 year, 30% of those youth released will come back to DYS or be committed to the adult correctional system. After three years, the number jumps to 50%. 
In the Module Four discussion board discuss the following:

Are the juveniles in Marion being adequately prepared for life after detention?
What is wrong and how could it be improved?
What are we preparing them for? What are they in detention for and how can we help them overcome their problems?

first reply:
In my opinion I do not feel that the juveniles in Marion are adequately prepared for life after detention. Many of these juveniles will not have the proper education or the proper tools that are needed to become model citizens.
The things that I found wrong with the Marion facility are the lack of challenges for the programs that they supply at the facility such as the building trades, and automotive programs. If the facility gave these juveniles more to do within the program it would keep them more interested in pursuing the trade as a career. Also, if they know how to do more it would allow them to seek stable employment once they are released. I also feel that making sure all of these teens achieve their diploma should become a priority among this facility.
I feel that we should be preparing these juveniles to be obedient/conformed, reeducation/development, and treatment. The majority of the juveniles in this facility have a history of serious crimes, in which many are violent offenders. I know that it is especially important to find out where all the anger is coming from. Anger Management should be a mandatory class that all violent offenders must pass successfully in order to be released. Drug treatment should also be a requirement for everyone with a chemical dependency. If these juveniles get the treatment as well as the tools needed for stable employment, I feel that these juveniles will be successful.

second reply:
No, I do not feel as if the juveniles are being properly prepared for their futures. Yes, the detention center has opportunities and programs for them to participate in different activities and jobs. Yet, what they are being taught can only help them to a certain point. Take for instance the class where they build walls, then tear them down for the next group to come in and build them back up. They cannot make things to see because the wood has been donated. They also offer the option of going to school but rarely are the offenders there long enough to get their actual diplomas. They more often suggest them getting the GED’s instead of the actual diplomas. I think setting a plan into place ahead of time, so they can actually graduate would be beneficial. They would know what needs done by when and how long they have to complete the task. This is a form of goal setting for them that could be worked into their treatment plans. They also seem to all enjoy the barbershop the most out of all of the activities and trades they can choose from. I would feel this class gives them the most freedom and ability to speak to the other inmates more often. If they are there to learn to build but you tear down things after they build it only to start it all over again, what does that teach them? If they are there to learn to work on cars, then why are they not able to have actual running cars to work on? They are changing the oil and tires of perfectly good vehicles, so wouldn’t this not show them the proper colors or looks of oil and things when they need changed? I feel as if some of these classes are put into place just to keep the young men busy while they are in there. They need to work on new programs for them and more opportunities for them to work and actually gain the experience of the job. You tell them you are giving them job experiences but then they get out into the real world not knowing anything about the job. In my opinion they are not preparing them for anything, as these classes they offer them don’t really show them to trust aspects of the jobs. They are being kept busy in my opinion and not be taught anything. They are in this place because of their actions and not being productive members of society. They need to realize they can get out there and do anything they put their minds too. They need to be taught real crafts and tradesmen work so they can apply it when they get back out into the real world. They need to give them the opportunity to continue their class and studies for diplomas when they move onto their next facilities.

third reply:
Are the juveniles in Marion being adequately prepared for life after detention?
The Marion facility is a facility where the worst juveniles in the state are sent. This, in of itself puts restrictions on the facility that other juvenile facilities would not have to deal with. The book tells us that many juveniles enter the juvenile justice system with drug and alcohol addictions, truancy or minimal education, social skills, defiant to authority, and gang affiliations. The Marion facility has programs and specific units to deal with all of the predominate issues youthful offenders suffer from. The Behavioral Unit deals with those who lack the ability to conform to rules and regulations. They are separated from others because of their threat to themselves and the staff. The Transition Unit helps prepare the juveniles to prepare to reenter society. They have the Chemical Dependency Unit to focus on treatment and break the dependency cycle. They have Mental Health Unit to address those needs. Finally, they have a school to provide the opportunity to achieve high school graduation. The curriculum is diverse and include a trade school that offers several vocational opportunities. Overall, the Marion facility appears, in theory, to be adequately preparing juveniles for life after detention with the programs offered at their facility. What I do not know is if the programs are successful. While the summation tells us the Ohio will see a 30% recidivism rate within a year of being released and a 50% recidivism rate within three years, it does not mention the recidivism rate for juveniles that were incarcerated in their facility.
What is wrong and how could it be improved?
What I find wrong with the Marion facility is the educational aspect. In order to achieve a high school diploma or GED, there is time needed for the juveniles to complete this task. According to the summation, most students are processed out within a year, which makes it difficult for them to finish. For some juvenile offenders, they have never worked hard at something to completion and the ability to do so would be a huge self-confidence booster. In turn, this would make them more marketable in society. One way to improve that opportunity with juveniles being processed out within a year is the ability to do live-streaming of the class. This would fix two problems. Moving on to another facility where the juvenile could complete the program and fix the concern of teachers being assaulted. We have the technology of Zoom and other platforms where students can interact with a teacher who is not physically in the room. Providing a staff member in the room to make sure the students participated would be required, but this could help both the graduation rate and zero out the assaults on teachers. It also open up the opportunity to other subjects taught by teachers who may otherwise not want to teach in person for fear of an assault.
What are we preparing them for? What are they in detention for and how can we help them overcome their problems?
The Marion facility is preparing those in their custody to return to society and providing resources to become a productive citizen of society. They are providing the basic needs, and some, that they did not receive at home. Education at the basic level, chemical dependency treatment, mental health treatment, and behavior modification. In essence, all of the programs available at the Marion facility can adequately prepare the youthful offenders with life outside the criminal justice system. When recidivism is at 30% within one year and 50% after three years, the blame shifts to the offender. What are YOU doing to make yourself a productive citizen? What job fairs have you attended? What applications have you filled out? Are you staying away from your old crew that may have landed you in the juvenile system to begin with? Are you using the trade you learned in the Marion facility, or have you thought about higher education in college? There are too many options the juvenile court has to offer that can assist a juvenile to become productive. It is not a handout, but work hard and use some self-motivation, and success can follow.