'Getting into this jam will be really good news'

Racine County yesterday announced a new program to help keep youth from returning to juvenile detention.

The program, known as JAM, is administered under contract with the county's Human Services Department by Juvenile Aftercare Ministries, Inc., a non-profit corporation.

It may well be a good program -- let's face it, we spend so much on punishment it's always a surprise to see anything left over for prevention -- but my first reaction was to marvel at the press release author's chutzpah for concluding with this "quote" from County Executive Bill McReynolds:

"Most of us don't like getting into a jam. But for some of our youth, the chance to get into this JAM will be really good news."

Mac said that? Yeah, right.

Anyway, the county lists JAM's three phases this way: The first begins while the youth is serving in detention. The second phase continues after release, and the third phase is a one-on-one accountability relationship with a community mentor for a year. Similar programs in Boston and Memphis have radically reduced recidivism.

(Yeah, not much in the way of specifics, or cost. And I discovered the release online too late to make a clarifying phone call. News as it happens; film at 11.)

Another McReynolds quote: "I have always said that the juvenile justice system, especially its secure facilities, is like the farm team system for the adult criminal justice system. (That doesn't sound like Mac, either.) I don’t want to see youngsters unnecessarily in juvenile detention, and I sure don’t want to see them, as adults, coming into our jail. For some youth, juvenile detention is crucial to helping them mend their ways. But, once they’re out of detention, some of them need extra help to keep from repeating their past mistakes. In some tough, large cities, the kind of program JAM offers has been that extra help."

Uh, yeah; that too.

The JAM program joins, among others:

• ACE (Alternatives to Corrections through Education), which permits Racine County youth to remain near home, while receiving an intensive educational opportunity in juvenile detention;

• ARC (Afternoon Reporting Center), which provides a structured post-school environment for young persons with alcohol and drug abuse issues;

• TEP (Transitional Education Program), in cooperation with Racine Unified, which smoothes the return of young people from corrections or detention back to the school environment; and

• Alternatives to Detention, which permits young persons to report for Saturday programming rather than entering the detention facility for certain minor violations of court orders.