
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 26, 1994                   TAG: 9409260059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUVENILE FACILITIES CROWDED, STUDY FINDS

Most juvenile offenders across the country are being held in overcrowded, substandard facilities that lack anti-suicide policies and adequate health screening, according to a Justice Department report issued Sunday.

The survey covered 984 detention centers, training schools, ranches, farms and camps holding 65,000 juveniles.

It found that only 20 percent to 26 percent had adequate bed space, health care, security or suicide control.

More than 11,000 juveniles committed 18,000 acts of attempted suicide, suicidal gestures or self-mutilation, the survey found, and institutions frequently failed to provide appropriate housing for suicidal juveniles.

Nearly half of the facilities exceeded their design capacity and only 24 percent of detained youths were in places that met all living space standards. Larger facilities tended to be most overcrowded and had higher juvenile and staff injury rates.

There were 24,000 attacks by juveniles on other inmates each year and nearly 8,000 attacks on staff members.

On health issues, the report found one-third of detained juveniles are examined by staffers who have not been trained to perform health screening.

``Of particular concern is the fact only 68 percent of confined juveniles are in facilities where tuberculin tests are performed and only 53 percent are in facilities that test for sexually transmitted diseases,'' the report said.

The percentage of incarcerated juveniles from minority groups rose between 1987 and 1991 from 53 percent to 63 percent, including a rise from 37 percent to 44 percent for blacks and 13 percent to 17 percent for Hispanics, the report said.

by CNB