ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
A Colorado company has won the contract to operate a residential boot camp for young men at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Montgomery County and plans to open it in mid-March or early April.
Rebound, a private, Denver-based firm that specializes in rehabilitating what it calls "early stage" offenders, would operate the camp jointly with the state and Alliant Techsystems Inc., according to a company spokeswoman. Alliant is the arsenal's private commercial operator.
Dave Ratcliff, Alliant's business manager, confirmed Tuesday that Rebound got the contract, but cautioned that the Army had not given the project its final approval.
As a standard requirement, Ratcliff said, an environmental assessment of the project is being done and a notice will appear in the local newspapers within two weeks announcing details of a public information meeting. A 30-day public comment period will follow the meeting, he said.
Ratcliff called the project, which will create 35 jobs, "a nice win for the area."
The state thought enough of the project to commit nearly $1.5 million for fiscal 1997 and more than $2.6 million for fiscal 1998, according to Cari Brunelle, Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman.
Jane O'Shaughnessy, Rebound's chief executive officer, said her company has allotted $650,000 of its own money to renovate barracks in the southeastern portion of the Army property. The barracks are located near some ball fields and within a tenth of a mile of the Carilion Health System's Wellness Center, which opened in June.
Area contractors will be used to do the renovation, she said, which will include a security fence. The fence will be chain-linked, either 12 or 16 feet high and covered with a small wire mesh that is an anti-climb precaution, according to Chuck Isner, Rebound's project manager for the program's start-up.
People will not have access in or out of the facility without passing through locked gates; it will be a controlled environment, Isner said.
The final product will be a 50-bed facility for boys who are nonviolent offenders ages 12-17, O'Shaughnessy said. The per-day, per-child cost to run the program is $109.23.
Brunelle said it is likely the boys will not be first-time offenders because the boot camp is an alternative to committing the boys to a state juvenile detention facility.
Rebound's program includes a 120-day residential portion followed by a six-month "after-care and supervision" period. The after-care is the key to the success of boot camps, according to O'Shaughnessy.
"Research says for the kids who would be committed, the ones with after-care do better than the kids that go to training school," she said. "Virginia is following the recipe for success."
The residential program includes physical and classroom training under 24-hour supervision. The after-care includes returning the boys to the jurisdiction that convicted them and making sure they get the help they need.
O'Shaughnessy gave the example that after-care would include not only helping a boy get re-enrolled in school, but supervising him and making sure he attends school, too. The same would go for getting a boy into Alcoholics Anonymous or other local programs designed to address specific problems that may have contributed to the boy's social problems.
Isner, who has run Rebound's Colorado program for the last two years, said he is excited about bringing the program to Virginia.
"It's a real neat program," he said. "It's not laid back, it's aggressive. It's really been successful in Colorado."
Boys from all over the commonwealth will be accepted to the facility because it would be only the second program of its kind in the state. The first boot camp opened for boys in Isle of Wight County in January 1995 and began accepting girls in September 1995.
Brunelle said the state's request for bids on the project included funding for a second 50-bed boot camp and possibly a third 30-bed facility if funding becomes available.
O'Shaughnessy said the Radford facility would specifically cater to boys and the second camp would be coed. A site for the second camp has not been chosen yet, she said.
Rebound found out it won the contract Nov. 18, but a few hurdles remain before the Radford site wins final approval. If all goes as planned and weather does not delay construction, O'Shaughnessy said the camp should open in mid-March or early April.
Radford City Council gave its unanimous endorsement of the project in late October.
Radford City Councilman Tom Starnes said Tuesday the limited information he has on youth boot camps seemed positive.
"I think it's a good concept and it has proven successful in other parts of the country," he said.
Alliant, the arsenal's private commercial operator, has recently steered several other businesses to the site, including companies that manufacture fireworks and chemical explosives.
Rebound has been in business since 1988 and operates private correctional facilities for youth in Colorado and Florida. O'Shaughnessy said the Colorado program, which the Virginia program will loosely follow, is part of the state's probation system. The Colorado camp is almost 3 years old and nearly 1,000 boys have graduated from the 60-day program, she said.
This is the fourth commercial tenant to announce it will locate at the arsenal in the last 21/2 years in an ongoing effort to keep costs down at the largely vacant arsenal.
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