77. Adolescent offender facilities. 1. (a) The state shall establish one or more facilities with enhanced security features and specially trained staff to serve the adolescent offenders sentenced to a determinate or indeterminate sentence for committing offenses on or after their sixteenth birthday who are determined to need an enhanced level of secure care which shall be managed by the department with the office of children and family services assistance, and services or programs.
(b) A council comprised of the commissioner, and the office of children and family services, the commissioner of the state commission of correction, and the commissioner of the division of criminal justice services shall be established to assess the operation of the facility. The governor shall designate the chair of the council. The council shall have the power to perform all acts necessary to carry out its duties including making unannounced visits and inspections of the facility at any time. Notwithstanding any other provision of state law to the contrary, the council may request and the department shall submit to the council, to the extent permitted by federal law, all information in the form and manner and at such times as the council may require that is appropriate to the purposes and operation of the council. The council shall be subject to the same laws as apply to the department regarding the protection and confidentiality of the information made available to the council and shall prevent access thereto by, or the distribution thereof to, persons not authorized by law.
(c) Appropriate staff working in such facilities shall receive specialized training to address working with the types of youth placed in the facility, which shall include but not be limited to, training on tactical responses and de-escalation techniques. All staff of the facility shall be subject to random drug tests.
2. The office of children and family services shall assign an assistant commissioner to assist the department, on a permanent basis, with programs or services provided within such facilities.
3. The department, the state commission of correction and the office of children and family services shall jointly establish a placement classification protocol to be used to determine the appropriate level of care for each adolescent offender in such facility. The protocol shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, consideration of the nature of the youth's offense and the youth's history and service needs.
4. Any new facilities developed by the department in consultation with the office of children and family services to serve the youth committed as adolescent offenders as a result of raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction shall, to the extent practicable, consist of smaller, more home-like facilities located near the youths' homes and families that provide gender-responsive programming, services and treatment in small, closely supervised groups that offer extensive and on-going individual attention and encourage supportive peer relationships.
5. Adolescent offenders committed or transferred to the facility, as defined in this section for committing a crime on or after their sixteenth birthday who still have time left on their sentences of imprisonment shall be transferred to a non-adolescent offender facility in the department for confinement pursuant to this chapter after completing two years in an adolescent offender facility unless they are within four months of completing the imprisonment portion of their sentence and the department determines, in its discretion, on a case-by-case basis that the youth should be permitted to remain in such facility for the additional short period of time necessary to enable them to complete their sentence. In making such a determination, the factors the department may consider include, but are not limited to, the age of the youth, the amount of time remaining on the youth's sentence of imprisonment, the level of the youth's participation in the program, the youth's educational and vocational progress, the opportunities available to the youth through the department, and the length of any applicable post-release supervision sentence. Nothing in this subdivision shall authorize a youth to remain in such facility beyond his or her twenty-third birthday.
Last modified: February 3, 2019