BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County will not send any more teen-agers to a controversial boot-camp-style rehabilitation facility in Arizona and will gradually withdraw teen-agers who are already there.
|
Emphasis on discipline
The Arizona Boys Ranch houses about 500 boys between ages 8 and 18, most from out of state. Its emphasis on military-style discipline is considered the best course of treatment for some youths, and is relatively cheap for some states at about $143 a day.
|
But the director of the agency that will soon take over the care of Hamilton County's most troubled children said the change is not related to fresh allegations of abuse at the Arizona Boys Ranch. "We don't see a panic button to be pushed, but we're still gathering information," said James Mason, president of Beech Acres, the Cincinnati social service agency that will replace FCF Management Inc. in handling the care of about 300 Hamilton County youngsters. "We're going to do an orderly withdrawal based on the needs of each individual kid."
"If we have 20 kids in our county that need a placement like that, then we ought to have something like that here."
FCF Management will merge with Beech Acres around July 1.
The Arizona ranch, about 20 miles southeast of Mesa, houses about 550 delinquent teens from around the country, including about 20 from Hamilton County. Two staff members at the ranch were fired this week and four others suspended after a police report into the death of a resident was made public.
The report, by the sheriff's department in Pinal County, Ariz., contained testimony that ranch employees forced the 16-year-old boy to carry and perform exercises over a bucket containing his soiled clothing, because staff members said he was not cooperating and faking the illness that was ultimately blamed for his death. The boy, Nick Contreraz of Sacramento, Calif., died March 2 at the ranch from complications of empyema, an accumulation of pus in his chest cavity. The condition, a byproduct of pneumonia, bronchitis and other infections, cut off oxygen to his heart.
The sheriff's report, which has been forwarded to the Pinal County prosecutor to see whether charges are warranted, came shortly after a visit to the Arizona Boys Ranch by two staff members from Beech Acres.
Mr. Mason said the staff members interviewed children at the ranch and found no complaints of abuse or reason to immediately call home any of those who are there.
But he said new management will mean a new philosophy and teens with those types of problems could be better served closer to home. No boot-camp type of facility is available in Hamilton County, but Mr. Mason thinks other types of treatment might work and said decisions to bring children home from the ranch will be based on their release dates or on whether appropriate care is available closer to home.
The county decided four years ago to contract with a private agency for the care of teens who have multiple problems, such as mental illness, juvenile delinquency and other conditions that require intensive therapy.
Most Hamilton County parents who have children at the ranch have said they are very happy with it.
But the camp has a history of abuse allegations. Since 1971, there have been four state investigations into abuse, and the ranch's license to treat young people has been suspended three times.
