By Sam Tabachnik
The Denver Post
DENVER — The ACLU of Colorado and a coalition of juvenile justice advocates are calling for changes to the state’s juvenile prisons as COVID-19 cases increase among youth and staff members.
Four youth and three staff members tested positive for the novel coronavirus inside the Pueblo Youth Services Center in the past week, a Colorado Department of Human Services spokesperson said, while at least seven employees at juvenile facilities statewide were confirmed to have COVID-19 over the past three weeks, according to state data. Eleven youth were in medical isolation as of Friday.
The new cases inside Colorado facilities come amid a surge in outbreaks at youth detention centers across the country, leading advocates to call for more youth to be released, more stringent health protocols and expanded testing to control the virus’ spread.
“Our previously voiced concerns about the lack of a speedy effort to release youth from (Division of Youth Services) facilities anticipated an outbreak if more children were not released from … custody,” the juvenile justice coalition wrote Tuesday in a letter addressed to Gov. Jared Polis, the state’s Division of Human Services and Nathan B. Coats, Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. “Speedy action is all the more imperative now.”
Madlynn Ruble, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services, said in an email the department has discussed managing the pandemic with advocates for months and that progress has been made. She also said DHS is committed to the safety of youth and staff.
Rising cases
While Colorado has not seen the new coronavirus spread within juvenile prisons at the rates of other states, recent trends show that COVID-19 is making its way through them.
Four of the six youth housed at the Pueblo Youth Services Center have tested positive, in addition to three staff members, Ruble said. Six of the 10 cases among youth statewide among have come since July 10, data from the Division of Youth Services shows.
At least 15 employees at juvenile facilities have had COVID-19, state data shows, including seven since July 3. In the five weeks prior, only one staffer tested positive.
Five employees at the Lookout Mountain facility in Golden have tested positive, state data shows.
In the letter addressed to state leaders, juvenile justice advocates pointed to rising cases, as well as other complaints such as reports from young people about staff not properly wearing masks at Mount View Youth Services Center in Lakewood. In addition, the letter cited reports from youth about visitors being permitted to enter Zebulon Pike Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs without masks, health screenings or temperature checks.
“Within days of sending each of these reports to DYS, advocates learned that a staff member had tested positive at each facility,” the letter said.
Ruble said the incident at Zebulon Pike came with parents entering the lobby without face coverings before being told they had to wear masks.
In Pueblo’s detention center, youth were given homemade masks that tattered after a single wash, advocates wrote, with one youth saying they only were issued one mask per week.
“Don’t take our foot off the gas”
In light of these statistics and stories, the juvenile justice advocates — which include the Colorado Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel, the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender and the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman — called for a series of actions they say are paramount to preventing viral outbreaks. Those reforms include:
- Decrease the number of youth in juvenile facilities
- Require the Division of Youth Services to create detention criteria that limit the number of youth in each facility and seek alternative placements
- Test all youth and staff at facilities where positive tests have occurred and expedite results
- Ensure youth in medical isolation or seclusion have access to education, mental health services and virtual visits with family and lawyers
“The point of the letter is to ensure we don’t take our foot off the gas and that we continue to take every possible precaution to keep youth safe,” Stephanie Villafuerte, Colorado’s child protection ombudsman, said. “We have seen extraordinary high numbers of COVID cases in state adult correctional facilities and don’t want that to happen to our youth facilities.”
The 159 youth detained is well below the 200-bed criteria used to increase social distancing in facilities and significantly lower than the 327 beds allowed under the statewide cap, Ruble said.
“We have released everyone we feel comfortable putting back into the community,” she said.
The juvenile facilities have suffered from the slow return of test results from state and private labs, but the department has an adequate number of tests for staff and youth, Ruble said.
Juveniles in medical quarantine or isolation are provided “education, behavioral health support, virtual visitation, books, games and other activities to support their time,” she said.
“Neither medical isolation nor medical quarantine is behind a locked door,” Ruble said.
National trends show a steep increase in coronavirus cases inside juvenile prisons and detentions centers. Last week, 209 young people tested positive inside facilities across the country, according to data compiled by The Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit organization. That number spiked from 166 the previous week and 97 the week before.
“It’s just appalling,” said Joshua Rovner, who is tracking COVID-19 in juvenile prisons for the The Sentencing Project. “What has really happened is people have let their guard down and the virus has taken advantage.”
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