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| | Thursday, August 28, 2014
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Report issued on Mountain View suicides
The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (Commission) has released its report and recommendations following recent suicides at the Mountain View Youth Development Center in Dandridge. It comes following the recent resignation of Mountain View Security Manager Steve Harrison and the firing of two guards. The report says the guards at the facility were stressed and over-worked. As a result the activities of the residents, although under surveillance cameras, frequently were not monitored. After 20 years with no suicides at the facility, two were recorded this summer. As a result, Department of Children's Services Commissioner Jim Henry asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Commission to review the deaths," “I respect both of these organizations for their insight, experience and independence. We wanted a thorough assessment of Mountain View, and I am thankful that they agreed to take on this sensitive task. The TCCY has completed its review, while the TBI investigation is in its final stages. We are committed to being as open and forthright about our efforts, while still preserving our students' confidentiality," Commissioner Henry said on Wednesday. He added that the agency has reassessed each Mountain View student's well-being and needs in the past few weeks. A suicide-prevention program is in effect, and a Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths assessment for all youth is underway. "We need to move further away from a correctional-style approach and more closely toward a therapeutic approach in order to get our students on the right track. A majority of our juvenile justice youth have mental-health and substance-abuse issues." He said that is one reason that Dr. Michael Cull was appointed Deputy Commissioner for Child Health. He has an extensive background in addressing children's mental-health needs. The department also has been in contact with other states and experts to learn how they have delivered needed mental health services to juvenile-justice youth. Work is continuing to bring the agency into compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act in an effort to make state juvenile facilities safer. "We are already increasing awareness, supervision and safety, including carrying out required facility upgrades," Henry said. Efforts also are underway to more quickly fill the vacancies at Mountain View, to alleviate mandatory overtime. An accelerated interview, background check and training process to get qualified staff into the facility is in place to fill the 30 vacancies at Mountain View. Commissioner Henry said another area that is being addressed is the need for better communication between staff members and regional teams with regard to treatment plans and information about each student. All direct-service employees, he said, need to understand how students’ behavior in the dorms might be affected by the students' histories, backgrounds and ongoing treatment. Along with the rest of Children's Services, the three youth development centers are undergoing review with the Council on Accreditation, and if successful, the Juvenile Justice division would the first in the nation to receive COA accreditation. Efforts continue to address all of the Commission's recommendations, and the department is awaiting updates and insights from the TBI regarding their continuing review of the Mountain View deaths. The two cases have also been investigated by the Dandridge Police Department, the DCS Special Investigations Unit and the DCS Internal Affairs Division.
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