Charlotte's Teen Inmates To Get New Abodes and Anti-Recidivism Counseling
Some Charlotte teen inmates awaiting trial in Mecklenburg County will move into smaller housing units next month, where they'll receive more intense counseling to help them stay out of trouble after they're released, says Sheriff Chipp Bailey, whose department runs the jail.
Adult prisoners in the jail also will have some new vocational programs next year, including masonry and horticulture classes taught by community college instructors.
The classes will come online next year, said Julia Rush, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office.
The new housing and education programs are paid for with bond money approved by voters in 2005, she said.
Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds - called youthful offenders - are housed in two, 56-bed units at the county's Jail North facility off of Statesville Road.
The large numbers make it more difficult for detention officers to keep order and for counselors to give more individual attention to the teens, Rush said.
The new housing units, also located at Jail North, will break up the teen population into smaller, 12-bed units. Female youthful offenders - only about 10 in the county - are already housed in their own segregated unit.
The teens attend the only high school in North Carolina located inside a jail, and take classes teaching lessons about life skills and health, Rush said.
By law, youthful offenders must be kept out of sight and sound of adults who are serving time, she said.
"We believe working with individuals of this age group, using an intense, specialized treatment curriculum, will allow us to provide opportunities for these offenders to get back on the right track before they become adults," Bailey said. "We can work to keep kids out of jail on the front-end, or pay for adult jail space on the back-end."
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, AP, Google Maps
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