1. Teaching in Detention – A Security Perspective
Justin Crostic Home Incarceration Supervisor Chesterfield Juvenile Detention Home

2. Welcome Ask questions at any time! About me
About Chesterfield Detention
Ask questions at any time!
Check with your facility (disclaimer)

3. Our Biggest Challenge What’s our biggest challenge? Getting along
We’re a blended family
Biggest challenge is getting along
Challenge is to find middle ground that allows education to function in the best possible way to engage our students but at the same time maintain the necessary function of safety and security.
Education and security will disagree on things, sometimes quite often, but we need to keep communication and our minds open to find creative solutions.

4. The Goal What is the goal? Reengaging them in learning!
Is it credits, seat time, passing SOL scores, graduation…?
Reengaging them in learning!
The first step – building a rapport
The first goal for many students is to reengage their interest in learning. For many, it’s been lost. And it’s difficult because we may have them for a short time period.
Reengaging anyone in learning is difficult but we are talking about adolescents who are navigating a grown up world.
We’re expecting these kids to learn algebra, earth science, world history, all the while being dragged through the juvenile justice system and having to have grown up conversations with probation officers, attorneys, and judges while at the same time dealing with family issues at home.
The first step to engage this population of students is to develop a rapport with them. Get to know your students even if only for a couple days. It will come in handy.

5. Know Your Students Education level
Reading, math, etc.
Try to stay away from unintentionally embarrassing your students
Ridicule can be constant
Notice changes in behavior from day to day
Mental health issues
Know their education level. When we separate residents into units it is based mainly on age and size, unless a child is really low functioning or special needs. You may have a 17 year old on a 10th or 11th grade reading level in the same class as a 17 year old on a 6th grade reading level.
Along those lines try to stay away from embarrassing your students.
Day to day behavioral changes can be more dramatic in detention. A resident just found out they were committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice, they received a phone call or letter that had bad news, their parents won’t come visit them. There are a lot more stressors in detention than in a traditional school environment so these behavior changes may be more frequent, more intense, and with less of a warning.
The majority of our residents have some form of mental health issue and many take psychotropic medications which can impact how they think and act. It can cause them to be drowsy in class, agitated, or spaced out, so please try to always keep this in mind.

6. Know What Topics Are Off Limits
Varies from facility to facility
Charges, legal advice, guns, sex, drugs, other residents in the facility, etc.
Focus on schoolwork and related topics
Life outside their city/county
Colleges, sports, trades, healthy outlets
Not everyone can look forward to breaks
We want to change the environment our residents are in. They get plenty of negative influences on the outside. For some this is all they know. This is one reason why we restrict what residents are allowed to watch on TV. They aren’t allowed to watch Cops, Gangland, Drugs Inc., or even the local news.
Instead, as teachers, focus on schoolwork. Focus on things that will enlighten them. Many of your students may have never been outside of your jurisdiction. Our students don’t know the opportunities that are out there for them. If there is free time talk about college, sports, trades, hobbies and healthy outlets. We want them to see they are not stuck where they are at in life. This is just a temporary stop for them.
Be careful when talking about upcoming breaks.

7. Disciplining Residents
Check with your facility!
Redirection
Detention vs. traditional school
Keys to remember
Keep your voice flat
Do not raise your voice
Do not use sarcasm, patronize, or condescend
Be careful of jokes
Do not argue!!!
Check with your facility regarding their behavior management program and how you as teachers are integrated into that program.
You will have times where a student needs to be redirected to get back on task. How does this differ from a traditional school? Our residents are in a controlled environment 24/7. They are constantly being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and why they have to do it. If they don’t comply there are consequences, something many of our residents aren’t used to outside of detention. But our facilities need this type of control to run effectively. This is not an easy way for anyone to live. In some residents it breeds more defiance and more disrespect. So in this environment how do you redirect and correct negative behaviors? - LIST
To sum all of this up, it’s easy—be the adult. Don’t let residents bring you down to their level. Some will try and some are very good at it. We all have those days when the resident succeeds. We have to learn from it, get better at it, and start fresh the next day.
All of this, we share with our security staff all the time. It’s not specific to teachers. This is the foundation of behavior management programs, and it works.

8. Start Every Day New Do not hold grudges
What happened yesterday was yesterday, it’s over
As strange as it may sound, our residents thrive in this environment
If you experience an issue with one of your students they may be pulled from your class depending on your facility’s procedures. If and when you see that same student the next day or even the same day we need a fresh start.
It’s not that nothing happened but that behavior was already addressed. Once they receive the consequences for their mistakes we move on. Our residents thrive in this type of environment. They are used to people holding grudges against them and not getting other chances. They are used to being labeled that bad kid. If you know anything about the labeling theory of deviance or the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy it tells us that many people feel they have to live up to their labels. Behaviors can be influenced simply by the terms we use to describe people and how we interact with them.

9. Be Careful of Idle Time Keep them busy and their minds active
Start with a short, fun activity?
Try to have as little idle time as possible. Our residents are used to having a lot of idle time with not much to do outside of detention. They get very restless. If at all possible start your class as soon as they show up and finish right when they are to leave. You’ll notice that the majority of issues can come up during idle time.
I’m not an instruction expect but as a security staff I like how historically many of the teachers here had a very short fun activity at the beginning of class. Whether it is a brain teaser, or an activity on the board, or CNN Student News, something to get them started and reeled in for the class. Brain gym is another great activity that can be done with students.

10. Incidents What if an incident happens in my classroom?
What if an incident happens in another classroom?
What is an incident? It can be a fight, a riot or major disturbance, or a resident being physically restrained by staff for another reason.
Facilities do everything they can to prevent these. What we know is that children and everyone really react to their environments. Children do not feel as safe in a facility with 70 restraints a year as they do in a facility with 10. Do you feel safe living in a neighborhood with 70 break-ins a year? How about just 10 a year? Environment is everything. So we all work extremely hard to keep incidents from happening. Does that mean incidents never happen or are never going to happen in your classroom or while you are teaching? Unfortunately not.
What you do if an incident happens in your classroom will vary from facility to facility. Check with your facility specifically in regards to policies and procedures. At Chesterfield security staff handle all incidents. With the exception of our gym teacher, we do not train our teachers in physical restraints. We tell our teachers that if they are able to safely get out of the classroom, get out. We have more than enough security staff to handle any situation. Once the incident is over go back to teaching like nothing happened. We don’t entertain questions and comments from other residents. We keep them on task.

11. For Additional Information
Seek out trainings either in your department or through outside agencies
NPJS (National Partnership for Juvenile Services)
OJJDP (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)
NIC (National Institute of Corrections)
Desktop Guide to Quality Practice for Working with Youth in Confinement
DCJS (Department of Criminal Justice Services)
A few years ago we made a huge trauma-informed care push in our department. All administrators, supervisors, front line staff, medical staff, and teachers were trained by our local CSB. Last year all of our teachers were certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid by our Senior Mental Health Clinician. These are the partnerships we need. We do everything we can to have a great relationship between security and schools. We need to help each other.
If internal training or formal external training isn’t an option due to scheduling issues or budgetary issues, go online. There are countless webinars and training materials from resources such as NPJS, OJJDP, NIC, and even DCJS.
NPJS has a specific page just for educators with TED Talk-style videos in areas such as lesson plans, engaging our residents, developing student/class profiles, and how to deal with technology constraints.
NIC has the Desktop Guide which is a PDF of 720 pages split into 25 sections of topics ranging from behavior management, mental health, evidence-based programs, adolescent development, and even a section entirely dedicated to education. The resources are out there to help you.

12. Questions
Any questions related to safety and security in a detention setting?
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