
DATE: Saturday, November 22, 1997           TAG: 9711220349

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, staff writer 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  108 lines

PINES TO SHUT DOWN ITS CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAMS THE CENTER'S MOST VIOLENT, TROUBLED YOUTH MAY BE PUT \ INTO OTHER PROGRAMS.

The state has pressured a treatment center to shut down by the end of the year its controversial program for its most violent and disturbed teen-aged boys.

The Phoenix A and B programs are in The Pines Residential Treatment Center's two lockup facilities and houses youths that have run away and committed violent crimes, including carjacking, in recent years. The offenders come from across the country.

The voluntary decision follows a scathing Virginia Department of Mental Health report documenting repeated assaults within the facilities as evidence that the center cannot keep the boys safe and under control.

``The goal was to ensure the safety and well being of boys in (the two facilities),'' said Charleen Whitehead, director of the state's department of licensure, which regulates The Pines. ``We had serious concerns based on the complaint investigation.''

The center is owned by First Hospital Corp.

The Pines hopes to gain state support for a proposed program designed for less-severely troubled youths in the same facilities as the ones to be closed. It would be called the Center for Young Adults.

A plan is to be submitted by the end of the month.

``Resident care remains our focus,'' Pines officials said Friday in a written statement. The agreement to terminate the troubled program stemmed from a state investigation into assaults on two residents by their peers Sept. 1 and Sept. 14. The state found that staff members did not follow procedures, did not properly monitor the residents, and were not consistent in managing the behavior of youths in the program.

Phoenix A and B houses the center's most aggressive youths. One section is for 15-, 16-and 17-year-olds, the other for 18 and older, Pines officials said.

``Evidence indicates that there is a recurring problem with the ability to provide a structured program of care that ensures protection, guidance and supervision,'' a state licensing worker wrote in a letter.

As a result, effective Sept. 15, The Pines voluntarily stopped accepting new admissions to the Phoenix A and B programs. It must cease operation no later than Dec. 31.

Thirteen residents of the program will be discharged before the end of the year as scheduled. Eleven boys who are not scheduled for release before Dec. 31 have been assessed for possible admission to other programs operated by The Pines.

Any violation of the agreement will result in the scheduling of a formal administrative hearing - the second step in the process of seeking a license denial or revocation, according to state officials.

``Compliance with the terms of this agreement shall be a condition for continued licensure of The Pines,'' the agreement said.

The letter from the state marked the second time in five months that the treatment center has been written up for having a pattern of unacceptable behavior showing a problem in the overall operations. They are the only times that the center has been cited for its overall operations since it opened nearly 11 years ago.

But The Pines has had its share of problems, and risks.

In 1995, residents ran away from the two campuses of The Pines at the rate of nearly one every five days. In 1996, that number dropped to about one every eight days. Pines officials said Friday that their own records show that they have had 14 runaways to date in 1997.

Three Maryland youths ran away from the Crawford Parkway campus and abducted a nearby resident from outside his apartment Oct. 3, 1996. They forced him into his own car and drove around for an hour before dumping him in the middle of the highway an hour later.

The incident began when the youths got away while employees were distracted by a water leak in the laundry room, Pines officials have said. It is unclear whether the youths picked a lock or found a missing key.

Two of those youths have been sentenced to seven years in prison. A third awaits sentencing next month.

Earlier this summer, The Pines launched physical changes to make guidance and supervision easier.

In April, the state cited The Pines for a recurring failure to document the transfer of residents across state lines.

The transfer of several residents to The Pines last summer from an affiliated treatment center in Arizona triggered that finding. Federal rules require that the state grant prior approval.

In answer to that state finding, The Pines submitted a corrective action plan, which the state accepted. There have been no further violations.

Since it opened a decade ago, The Pines has developed a national reputation for treating seriously disturbed youths, and, in some cases, providing an alternative to prison. The facility's two Portsmouth campuses house adolescents and young adults from across the nation - among them murderers and sexual molesters - who are treated in hopes of ``graduating'' them into society.

When things go well, the results are dramatic tales of triumph. The Pines is doing work that few other places in the country are willing to tackle. For some of the nation's children, The Pines is their last hope. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

ABOUT THE PINES

What it is: A residential center in Portsmouth for treating

seriously disturbed adolescents and young adults.

What was closed: The two programs that treat The Pines' most

violent and disturbed teen-aged boys.

Past problems:

Three youths run away from the Crawford Parkway campus and

abduct a nearby resident on Oct. 3, 1996. They force him into his

car and drive around for an hour before releasing him. Then, the

youths rob a convenience store and crash the car during a police

chase.

In May 1996, an 18-year-old resident of The Pines is sentenced to