COVID-19 in juvenile facilities: worker with packaged masks for distribution

As COVID-19 lingers, some juveniles facilities rate better than others in health safety

The nation’s 1,772 juvenile facilities face many challenges caused by the pandemic, according to those working inside and monitoring them from the outside. So far, juvenile facilities — 789 of the 1,510 nationwide are detention centers or long-term secure facilities, the remainder are group homes, residential treatment centers, wilderness camps and such — and the organizations monitoring them have reported no young people dying from the disease.

COVID-19 analysis: Juveniles were restrained less; a fraction of parents didn’t know how to contact incarcerated children as in-person visits slowed during pandemic

Fewer juveniles were placed in restraints and more reported that they’ve had positives dealings with staffers at juvenile agencies, according to April 2021 data voluntarily submitted by 148 pre-trial and other short-term detention facilities, longer-term correctional facilities, assessment and in-community residential programs in 32 states. Released in August by the Performance-based Standards Learning Institute, partnering with Vera Institute, the snapshots of data gauge COVID-19’s impact on  juveniles in those states and on their families who, with in-person visits banned during he pandemic, had to find other ways to connect.

NYC parade honors essential youth workers

During the rollercoaster ride of a pandemic, it was Maxene Foster’s job to help make sure that cash-strapped Bronx residents got fed, were safely sheltered and so forth. For those efforts, the 20-year employee of Bronxworks, was tapped to represent the 900 staffers of that nonprofit agency during that rarest of Big Apple events: a ticker-tape parade. The ticker-tape, New York City parade celebrated youth probation officers, along with workers from nonprofit agencies, transit and other institutions deemed essential workplaces during the pandemic.

NY mental health school budget cuts: Ypung, dark-haired girl in light blue shirt wearing mask, sits at desk with head on arms

Mental Health Cuts in Poorest New York City Schools Amid Pandemic

As the pandemic raged across New York City in spring 2020, Jose Rivera trekked from the Bronx to Coney Island, Brooklyn to Far Rockaway, Queens, dropping off 100 computer tablets and dozens of food vouchers to public school students, including undocumented Yemenis and Bangladeshis and their families. 

COVID19 Analysis-Record high blacks and low of white in juvenile facilities

Covid-19 Analysis: Record High of Blacks, Low of Whites in Juvenile Facilities

The tally of Black youth detained in juvenile facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic reached a record high last January, while the same count for white youth was the second lowest since the Annie E. Casey Foundation started tracking that data. The foundation’s most recent monthly analysis showed that, as of Feb. 1, whites had spent less time in detention than Blacks, who also were incarcerated for longer periods than they’d been detained before the pandemic started. Aimed at measuring the pandemic’s impact on 144 juvenile justice systems across 33 states, the Casey Foundation survey started in March 2020. 

By its most recent count, during January 2021, there was a:

6% decline in the population of non-Latinx white youth in juvenile detention. 2% uptick in the population of Latinx youth in juvenile detention.

Shakespeare: Low, large brick building with lawn; sign says Juvenile Court and address

Shakespeare Part Of Enrichment For Incarcerated Youth In One Tennessee County

When Michael Khanlarian began teaching incarcerated youth about the work of William Shakespeare, he never expected them to develop a rap about a 16th-century play. Using text from the play “Henry V,” a play about the titular British king and his rise to power, students created a cypher — a kind of freestyle rap battle — using Henry’s speeches.