ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COYNER SPRINGS
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke Juvenile Detention Home, cited for violating 33 state standards last year, likely will remain on probation for another month - but through no fault of its own this time.
The Virginia Board of Juvenile Justice, which was scheduled to meet in Roanoke today to consider taking the home off probation, probably will have to postpone a vote, because only two of its seven members are expected to be present.
Two board members and a team of city and state officials toured the Botetourt County detention home Tuesday afternoon. Afterward, Department of Juvenile Justice Deputy Director Ron Batliner said the board likely will decide today by telephone conference call to keep the home on probation until it meets next month in Richmond.
At that point - assuming the board has a quorum - it will decide whether to certify the home for a year. The home had faced the loss of state certification, which essentially would cut off its funding and shut it down.
The city-owned juvenile jail, also known as the Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Home, was placed on probation last November after a team of inspectors found 33 violations of state standards. The violations included deficiencies in record keeping, "substandard" housekeeping, problems with fire safety and other infractions that stemmed from serious overcrowding.
Most of the problems have been corrected, and state officials who toured the home Tuesday gave it a favorable review.
"Our department is certainly appreciative of what's been accomplished here over a short period of time," said Marvin Garner, director of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Last year, the inspection team found overcrowded cells with peeling paint, graffiti, dust-clogged ventilation ducts and mildew-coated bathroom ceilings. On Tuesday's tour, board members found a much cleaner facility covered with a fresh coat of paint.
As the tour moved through the home's day room, a group of well-behaved youths played pingpong or sat at tables playing cards. The only disruption was the sound of banging on the walls of the dormitory area, where two boys had been locked in their cells for fighting shortly before the group arrived.
When the home was holding as many as 50 juveniles on some days last summer, the probability of such fights was much greater.
"Anytime you put two or three kids in a cell that is equipped for one ... there are obviously going to be more kinds of behavior that is destructive," said Jack Trent, the home's acting superintendent.
By limiting the number of youths it takes from surrounding localities, Roanoke has been able to reduce overcrowding in the 21-bed facility. There were 18 boys and one girl incarcerated Tuesday.
In addition to giving the home a thorough cleaning, city officials also have installed new lighting, plumbing, beds, doors and surveillance cameras in the 35-year-old building. And long-awaited construction to double the home's capacity could begin as early as this summer.
After a team of state inspectors recommended last month that the home be taken off probation, city officials were hopeful that would happen at today's meeting at the Hotel Roanoke. But various business conflicts kept four board members away, according to Department of Juvenile Justice Spokeswoman Cari Brunelle.
The board also was left one member short after its chairman, Garner, was appointed director of the Department of Juvenile Justice last week. He replaces Patricia West, who left her job to assume the duties of Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore, who is seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general.
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