The Department of Juvenile Justice recently got a statewide upgrade in pay, services, regulation, equipment, and education opportunities. This follows previous upgrades in recent years that separate juveniles by gender and their level of violence.
Governor Andy Beshear said Frankfort is taking steps to better support youth and their needs by implementing new services and programs.
“For the first time ever, now every DJJ facility employs a mental health treatment director. These youth have complex needs and backgrounds. Now these mental health providers can better address the individual needs,” Beshear said. “We also amended contracts allowing two psychiatric nurse practitioners to treat youth on a regular basis at every facility.”
Last year 72 juveniles in the system earned their high school diplomas, four earned their GED, 250 received vocational certifications, and seven completed college courses.
Beshear recently announced two new emergency regulations involving the DJJ.
“We implemented the crisis intervention system, Handle with Care. This focuses on escalation and mental health for juveniles. It is a different way to address a juvenile that is escalating towards violence, or one that is engaged in some sort of conflict,” Beshear said.
Officials said the other emergency regulation aims to set stricter guidelines for when and how youths can be put in isolation. Along with these regulations a new transportation branch of the DJJ was formed.
Officials said the new branch of over 40 employees is responsible for picking juveniles up from wherever they are staying and bringing them to the detention center as court ordered. The branch aims to lessen the load on law enforcement who were previously bearing much of the transportation responsibilities.