OHIO — According to the Urban Institute, youth incarceration was on the decline for at least a decade across the U.S. and in Ohio.
What You Need To Know
- Ohio serves approximately 400 juveniles in its three facilities
- 61% of the juveniles are Black males and 30% are white
- Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services Amy Ast took on the new role about 60 days ago
- To see details from a 2018 report on youth incarceration by the US Department of Justice, click here
Amy Ast, Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, said while some restructuring within the department has taken place, there’s a lot of work to get done.
“Certainly, the goal always is to transform the lives of these kids that we’re entrusted with,” said Ast. “I want to certainly make sure that if we’re successful at that, then we’re going to have a safer Ohio.
“How we do that changes over time. You know, certainly, we learn from our successes, we learn from our failures. We learn from industry, best practice, and mostly what I want our staff to do is think creatively and to develop new innovative ways to do the work that we do.”
Ohio struggles with the number of juveniles ending up in state custody. Ast said she hasn’t had a chance to dig in and develop ways to reduce the numbers just yet, especially when it comes to Black males.
“I do know, right now, in our three facilities, we have just around 400 kids — 61% of the kids that we serve currently in our facilities are Black males, 30% are white.”
Admission of juveniles comes from the larger cities like Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.
“Cuyahoga County actually is our largest county of admission, and then Franklin County and Columbus as well,” said Ast.
However, Ast has looked at ways to reduce sexual victimization in its facilities.
“I read the BJs report that came out in 2018. And that was a result of a survey they did on DYS kids in 2016. Now, most of those kids are no longer with the department, but certainly sexual abuse and harassment should never ever be a part of a kid’s experience and so safety is going to be paramount as we continue to move forward,” said Ast. “When I came back to the agency, I wanted to know what has been done. What’s been different since that report came out and there’s been a lot of work.”
As a result, a new coordinator for the agency will be responsible for updating policies put together new training both for staff and students.
“We added cameras and mirrors into blind spots to reduce opportunities for harm to be done with our kids,” said Ast. “We even remodeled, I think, at all three of our facilities. We had three remodeling projects and our bathrooms, specifically around our shared shower areas to make sure kids had privacy. So there’s a lot been done in the last two years in response to that.”
