R.I. GRAPPLES WITH FAULTY TEEN JAIL BILL

PROVIDENCE, R.I.-When 17-year-old Dennys George was arrested this
summer, allegedly for carrying 10 grams of crack cocaine, he was taken
handcuffed and shackled to the state prison's high-security wing-not a
juvenile facility.

George said he was strip-searched and spent the night in a cell with
another teen. Though he didn't have contact with older inmates, he
wouldn't shower because he was afraid of being near them.

"They told me, 'You're going to spend some time with the big boys,'"
George said, recounting a talk with police. "I was so stressed, I
didn't even know what was going to happen to me."

George is one of about 40 teenagers who have been jailed in the state
prison under a new law that treats 17-year-olds as adults in the court
system. Billed as a way to save money, youth advocates, judges and the
attorney general sounded the alarm early that the proposal might
actually be more expensive, and could hurt children.

Now, four months after the measure passed the Legislature, state
officials admit their mistake: It's unlikely to cut costs, it has
created confusion in the court system and it is imprisoning teenage
offenders who might have been sent home with their parents instead.

State officials say it happened because the chain of people
responsible for the proposal-who drew it up, signed off on it,
forwarded it to lawmakers and voted it into law-never thoroughly
researched it and ignored warnings. Now, they're pointing fingers, and
grappling with how to fix it.

"Never underestimate the incompetence of government," said Steven
Brown, executive director of the state branch of the American Civil
Liberties Union, who wants 17-year-old offenders back in juvenile
courts. "I think there's a lot of blame to go around."

Rhode Island is one of 14 states that try people under 18 in adult
courts. Several of those are considering moving the age up.

Besides Rhode Island, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin
try 17-year-olds as adults, according to the National Center for
Juvenile Justice. Connecticut, New York and North Carolina try
16-year-olds in adult courts, although Connecticut has raised the age
of juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to 18 for most offenses
starting in 2010.

Rhode Island's problems began last fall when Republican Gov. Don
Carcieri's administration realized the state faced what became a $450
million deficit. The Department of Children, Youth and Families was
asked to cut 11 percent from its budget, or $20 million.

DCYF Director Patricia Martinez suggested in a memo to Carcieri that
the state could save $4 million by sending 17-year-olds to prison
instead of the State Training School, where DCYF oversees young
offenders. The average annual cost of keeping someone at the Training
School is $98,000, compared to $40,000 in the state prison.

But DCYF Deputy Director Jorge Garcia said in an interview that his
staff thought the proposal wouldn't pass so never consulted with
prison officials.

If they had, they would have learned 17-year-olds are put in
protective custody, away from older, hardened inmates. That costs
about $104,000 per year-a lot more than $40,000.

At best, Garcia said he had a quick conversation with Department of
Corrections Director A.T. Wall. Wall cannot remember that talk, his
spokeswoman said.

Carcieri's office never consulted prison officials about the change,
either, assuming DCYF had already checked, Carcieri spokesman Jeff
Neal said.

Lawmakers on the powerful House Finance Committee are responsible for
reviewing Carcieri's budget. Rep. Carol Mumford, a Republican, said
reviewing a $7 billion budget is an enormous undertaking.

"Picture five telephone books, that's how high it is," Mumford said,
referring to the budget documents. "We frankly do read the budget, but
there are idiosyncrasies in there that we do miss."

Her committee did receive repeated warnings from child advocates and
prosecutors who argued that teenagers are better served by
rehabilitation than incarceration.

A Family Court judge testified that Carcieri's staff had not consulted
with the judiciary. Attorney General Patrick Lynch said he doubted the
governor had even spoken with prison officials. Wall, the corrections
director, never testified about the DCYF proposal. He later said the
governor had not consulted him and he didn't realize the proposal might pass.

It did.

College-bound teenagers arrested under the new law risk losing federal
financial aid if convicted of a drug crime. Those looking for work
will have to disclose a criminal record. If the 17-year-olds had been
in Family Court, their records would be hidden from public view.

Carcieri's staff admits the original proposal was flawed, but the
governor wants to see how much the policy costs before tinkering
further, Neal said.

Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva Weed, a Democrat, said she's
urging lawmakers in the House to adopt a bill that would send
17-year-olds back to the juvenile courts. The Senate has already
approved the measure.