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Detention Services
Juveniles are held in detention on an order from the court or if they are a risk to the community, risk to self, or a risk to flee the jurisdiction before their next court hearing. Juveniles will receive a detention hearing before the Juvenile Magistrate within 24 hours of entering detention, excluding weekends and holidays.
All juveniles go through an admission process. During this process pertinent information is entered in a statewide database, and juveniles are photographed and fingerprinted. They take a shower and are issued clothing from the detention center, and their personal property is securely stored until they are released. Juveniles are classified according to several criteria including gender, age, maturity, type and seriousness of crime, and placed in a room and area based on this classification.
Informational Pamphlet: Ada County Juvenile Court Services Detention Center (pdf)
Programs
Upon entering detention, residents are placed into programming. Two classrooms are staffed by the Boise School District and include Master's-level teachers, aides, and a liaison. A third classroom is dedicated to detention vocational education and is staffed by detention personnel. The vocational classroom is for males who have dropped out of school or are older and working on their GED. The two main classrooms provide regular schoolwork from the resident’s home school, GED, or flex program. In addition, we are constantly striving to offer more educational and programming opportunities for juveniles. Currently, programs offered include:
Classes on health issues;
Pure Word;
Book Club;
Miscellaneous subjects such as guitar, fly-tying, etc.;
AA;
Honors - for residents with exceptional behavior;
Literacy Circle;
Movie night - (earned through good behavior); and
Small group - various subjects.
Religious programming is provided to residents who request it and have parental permission to participate. We provide one-on-one religious counseling, pure word, bible study, and regular church.
Staff
There are 34 full-time staff and 24 part-time on-call staff. All full-time staff are POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) Academy certified.
Detention has a full-time trainer for detention staff. Some of the training areas are Verbal Judo (verbal de-escalation), Akido (restraint training), CPR, First Aide, Suicide Prevention, Ethics, Policy and Procedure, etc.
Medical Services
The National Commission on Correctional Healthcare accredited medical department monitors the medications and health of the juveniles in detention. The services offered include those of a physician, consulting psychiatrist, dentist, and a nurse practitioner from Central District Health. Lifestyle and health education is offered along with free immunizations, HIV and STD testing, counseling, and treatment.
Rules
When a juvenile enters Detention they are issued a resident handbook that explains the guidelines and rules of the facility. The rules are outlined as expectations and cover the following areas:
Dining
School
Recreation
Proper Room
Movement in the facility
Dress Code – Detention provides all clothing.
General Behavior toward others
Phone – All calls made from Detention are collect.
Mail – Residents are allowed to mail two letters a week.
Violation of expectations may lead to disciplinary action. For minor violations, juveniles may receive a “Time Out,” which is a short period of time that the juvenile will remain in his/her room. For major violations, juveniles may be put in the “Behavior Management Group” for two to five days depending on the infraction. While in the group, the juvenile will have limited time out of his/her room and no contact with other residents.
Food Services
The goal of Food Services is to provide nutritious, well-balanced, resident-preferred, and economical meals for the youths in Ada County Juvenile Detention. Our meals meet the nutritional standards of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program as well as those of the NCCHC (National Commission of Correctional Health Care), and our menus are reviewed by a Registered Dietician twice a year. The food service department accommodates medical and special needs diets.
Visitation
We have visitation for parents and grandparents two times a week:
Sunday 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Juveniles may also receive letters while in detention, as long as it is not restricted by the court. Packages are not allowed. If you would like to send a letter to a detention resident, please address it to the juvenile at:
Ada County Juvenile Detention Center
6300 W Denton Street
Boise, ID 83704
Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)
JDAI, or the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, is an effort to systematically reform Ada County’s approach to detaining juveniles, with a goal of keeping the right juveniles in secure confinement while offering low-risk offenders viable, productive, and mutually beneficial alternatives. It includes use of an objective Risk Assessment Instrument (RAI), which assesses juveniles entering the system according to their risk of fleeing the jurisdiction and risk to the community or themselves. Identifying low-risk juveniles and using detention alternatives has resulted in a lower detention population, which in turn results in more effective detention experiences for those juveniles who are detained. Alternatives include:
In-Home Detention
Electronic Monitoring
Detention Release Orders
Work In Lieu of Detention (WILD)
Weekend Detention
Click here to read A Better Way To Do Business, by Joe Vraspir (ACJCS Placement Coordinator), which provides an indepth discussion of JDAI implementation in Ada County.
Capacity
The Ada County Juvenile Detention Center has 71 beds (2 pods, 3 wings, 1 dorm and observation rooms).
For more information on the Detention Center, please contact:
Shelly Smith
Detention Manager
Ph: 208.577.4940
Email: jvsmitsm@adaweb.net
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