SUPERVISION OF JUVENILES EXCORIATED IN REPORT

Replace Cheltenham, Robinson Urges

Maryland's Department of Juvenile Justice is so dysfunctional that
probation officers have been ordered not to punish delinquents who use
drugs, skip rehabilitation meetings or otherwise violate terms of their
release, a task force reported yesterday in the fiercest and most recent
condemnation of the troubled agency.

The report -- issued by a panel appointed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening and
Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend -- said even the state's most dangerous
delinquents have faced "superficial" oversight once they're released from
juvenile jails into programs collectively known as after-care.

As the task force's report was being released, acting Juvenile Justice
Secretary Bishop L.Robinson told state legislators in Annapolis that the
overcrowded Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County "needs to
be demolished."

Robinson said he expects the demolition to be part of a master plan on
department facilities, which is to be completed by fall. His statement
surprised and pleased advocates for children, who have long urged the state
to raze the prison-like facility, because overcrowding has led to
delinquents sleeping on floors and increased violence.

"We might save something for historical purposes," Robinson said of
Cheltenham, which has been beset by problems since it opened in 1872 as the
private House of Reformation for Colored Boys. "What went on there
historically behind those walls, I don't want to preserve."

The task force was impaneled by Glendening and Townsend in December, after
newspaper reports that delinquents routinely violated terms of their
probation with no consequences from the juvenile justice agency. Most of
them committed additional crimes while officials ignored their probation
violations.

Daniel W. Moylan, a retired Circuit Court judge from Washington County and
chairman of the task force, said he hoped recent attention focused on the
juvenile justice system will force top state officials to overhaul the
system.

"Because of the crisis, the problem is out in the open," he said yesterday.
"I don't think it can be swept under the rug. People are going to have to
pay attention to this. The task force made recommendations that -- if
carried out -- there's a chance to change a system that has for a couple of
decades needed to be revamped or overhauled."

Moylan said probation officers failed to punish delinquents who tested
positive for drugs or missed required meetings because of a culture that
trickled down from the juvenile justice agency's top officials.

"My feeling is it came from headquarters," he said. "I think it's a money
thing."

Townsend, the governor's point person on crime issues, was busy yesterday
and could not be interviewed about the report, according to a spokesman.
She and the governor issued a joint statement that said the report
validated their "balanced and restorative justice" approach to crime, which
calls for punishment combined with treatment.

While not quibbling with that philosophy, the report took exception to its
execution, saying, " this model has not permeated the agency's policies or
practices."

The judge and his task force were hard-pressed to cite anything the
Department of Juvenile Justice has been doing right.

Instead, their report listed problem after problem not only with the
after-care system but with the department as a whole. Among those cited in
the report:

The agency's operations generally "lack a clear, strategic approach to
holding youth accountable, providing services targeted to needs and risk
factors, and assisting them in becoming productive adults."

Delinquents are shuffled to various punishments and programs with no
consistent criteria for their placements. A juvenile who needs mental
health treatment after being released from confinement, for example, is
likely to be dealt to the first program that has an open slot -- regardless
of whether it includes a mental health component.

The juvenile justice agency is not alone to blame. Moylan said a systemic
breakdown between state agencies needs to be repaired so that mental health
and educational needs become part of an overall approach to after-care.

Robinson, the acting secretary who took over the department after
Glendening purged his predecessor and four other top managers last year,
told a House judiciary committee hearing on proposed juvenile justice
legislation yesterday that Cheltenham needs to be razed, because it is "not
appropriately designed to house and operate contemporary programs and
services."

Robinson, who acknowledged that a new facility would need to be
constructed, said he had not discussed his recommendation with the
governor. Del. Sharon M. Grosfeld, who toured Cheltenham in October, said
Robinson's statement was welcome news to critics of the facility. "It is
unfit for human beings," the Montgomery County Democrat said.

Susan P. Leviton, who heads the Juvenile Law Center at the University of
Maryland Law School, added that Cheltenham "can't be fixed and shouldn't be
fixed and needs to be razed."

"The history of Cheltenham is that it was a `colored' boys' school, and if
you go to Cheltenham today, it's still a `colored' boys' school," Leviton
said, noting the disproportionate number of African-American youths
confined there.

Less pleasing to advocates was Robinson's testimony before the House
committee on a bill that would create an outside commission to oversee the
operations of his department.

The legislation was among several bills proposed after a Sun series in
December describing violent assaults by guards on juvenile delinquents at
three Western Maryland boot camps run by the juvenile justice agency and
the failure of the department to keep track of graduates of the 20-week
camps once released into their communities on what the agency calls
"maximum supervised probation."

Robinson urged the committee to defeat the bill, saying the commission
would usurp the authority of the department head. Sounding much like a man
who intends to stay on the job for an extended period, Robinson promised a
sweeping reorganization of the department, including a strengthening of the
department's internal controls.

"This will be a new organization. We can turn this around," he said. "We
can do this if we're not burdened by a lot of commissions."

While committee members expressed confidence in Robinson personally,
several indicated that they want some form of external oversight.

The oversight legislation was one of five juvenile justice bills sponsored
by Del. Kenneth C. Montague Jr., a Baltimore Democrat, and considered by
the committee yesterday.

Three of them received the explicit endorsement of Montgomery County
Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a prospective gubernatorial candidate who has
been criticizing Townsend's oversight of juvenile justice.

Duncan urged the committee to approve bills prescribing standards for
juvenile detention, giving courts the authority to order the department to
follow through on treatment plans for youngsters and limiting the time
youths can be held after their cases are decided.

Duncan said the problems with the three state boot camps were only the "tip
of the iceberg."

"Too many youths are being put in detention because we don't have enough
alternatives," Duncan said.