The state is considering replacing the operator of the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School - or taking over the facility itself - because of a history of kids not receiving adequate services or being mistreated, Juvenile Services Secretary Kenneth C. Montague Jr. said yesterday.
"We are still looking at the Hickey contract, and in my communication with the governor's office all of the options remain open," Montague told a dozen state House Judiciary Committee members during a two-hour briefing.
Those options include hiring a new operator to run the Baltimore County juvenile detention facility before or after the contract expires next March with Correctional Services Corp./Youth Services International, a private contractor in Sarasota, Fla.
Or, Montague said, the state could decide to take over Hickey itself.
Montague would not rule out rehiring the existing contractor, but said the firm had "a fairly limited time frame" to prove it was up to the job.
The state is drafting the specifications it will use to put the job up for bid in the coming months.
Montague's briefing came after a June state monitor's report detailed more than 20 cases of child abuse and neglect over the past year, including instances of staff allegedly having sex with youths and bringing alcohol and pornographic materials into Hickey.
Hickey serves about 260 boys. Some are in detention awaiting court dates, while others have been sentenced there by judges. Hickey is known as a "deep-end" facility because it houses some of the state's most serious juvenile offenders.
In his briefing, Montague also addressed the future of the Cheltenham Youth Facility, a Prince George's County detention center that has been troubled by crowding, youth-on-youth assaults and inadequate staffing.
Montague said Cheltenham remains crowded - 199 boys in a center not supposed to hold more than 180.
But he said the state has been reducing the amount of time juveniles spend there.
Cheltenham was not designed to hold juveniles more than 60 days because it provides only minimal mental health and addiction services.
A May 19 internal population report obtained by The Sun showed that 28 Cheltenham residents had been there at least 60 days, nine had been held more than 100 days and four more than 200 days.
Montague blames such long stays on the difficulty - and cost - of placing youths in outside treatment centers.
