Facility Closures Mark New Direction for Florida Juvenile Corrections

POLK CITY, Fla. — Department of Juvenile Justice officials closed one of Florida’s largest juvenile correctional facilities as part of a move to rehabilitate youth offenders closer to home.

The 224-bed Polk County Juvenile Correctional Facility in Polk City, Fla., becomes the first of the state’s large, high-risk juvenile correctional facilities to close under a legislative plan to move the juvenile justice system toward community-based correctional programs, officials say.

In 2007, state legislators directed the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice to close the Polk County facility and to prioritize the transfer of juveniles from large centralized facilities that house more than 165 offenders.

The DJJ operates three additional facilities with capacities of more than 165 beds — Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Jackson County (192 beds), Avon Park Youth Academy in Highlands County (200 beds), and Sago Palm Academy in Palm Beach County (264 beds). The Sago Palm Academy is slated for closure in July, officials say.

The move toward small, decentralized facilities is intended to optimize rehabilitation and treatment efforts by providing offenders with more specialized programming in a community setting, officials say.

Placing offenders closer to their communities is designed to encourage greater involvement of families, with the support network enhancing the outcomes of the therapy and substance abuse treatment offenders receive during their incarceration, officials say.

Originally designed along a modified adult-prison model to house juveniles convicted and sentenced in the adult criminal justice system, both the Polk and Sago Palm facilities, which feature cell-block housing, clash with the rehabilitative philosophy and intent of DJJ programming, officials say.

Under the legislature’s 2007 directive, the Polk County Juvenile Facility, which is located adjacent to the Polk Correctional Institution — a 1,035-bed state prison — will be handed over to the Department of Corrections. The juvenile facility will begin housing adult inmates once a security audit of the detention center is complete, officials say.