CHEYENNE, Wyo.—A company that owned a Montana juvenile facility investigated for possible abuse is taking over operations at two juvenile facilities in Wyoming, including one where the state removed youths last year out of concern for their safety.
Cornerstone Programs Corp., based in Centennial, Colo., is taking over from Cheyenne-based Frontier Correctional Systems Inc. FCS owns with other investors and is the sole operator of the Jeffrey C. Wardle Academy, a juvenile treatment center and detention facility in Cheyenne, and the Regional Juvenile Detention Center, a juvenile detention facility in Casper.
Cornerstone and FCS announced the operations purchase, signed Friday, in a release Tuesday.
The release said Cornerstone had taken over oversight immediately and would take over all operations after a 90-day transition period. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Cornerstone intends to continue to enhance treatment and educational services at both operations,” Cornerstone Chief Operations Officer Gary Miller said in the release.
Cornerstone owned the Swan Valley Youth Academy near Condon, Mont., where a Montana Child and Family Services Division report in January 2006 alleged, among other things, that staff kicked youth during exercises, slammed them against walls and made them exercise and drink large amounts of warm water until they vomited.
Swan Valley closed early in 2006. No charges were filed.
“Counties quit sending kids because they wanted to see how the investigation played out,” Miller told The Associated Press by phone. “We made a decision to close the facility because the population got to such a small number and we couldn’t keep the doors open.”
A Montana advocacy group in December criticized Montana officials for not filing charges. Miller said the report’s allegations were not confirmed and were dropped.
The Wardle Academy in Cheyenne treats youths for substance abuse problems and jails others accused of getting in trouble. Two of its biggest customers are the sheriff’s offices in Laramie and Sweetwater counties, which hold youths under 18 in the Wardle Academy so they don’t have to be locked up in the counties’ adult jails.
The Wyoming Department of Family Services began pulling its youth out of the Wardle Academy’s treatment side last year. Department officials said staffing at Wardle was inadequate and youths there were having sex and had access to drugs.
“I think there’s room for growth, there’s room for program enhancement at the facility. I think we need better controls in place, better operating procedures and improved oversight of the facility,” Miller said of the Wardle Academy.
“With proper staffing, proper training and proper oversight, it can be a good facility.”
Wyoming Department of Family Services spokeswoman Juliette Rule said her agency wasn’t involved in the transaction and wouldn’t necessarily grant Cornerstone a state license.
She said Cornerstone would operate under the FCS license temporarily, but would need to apply for a six-month provisional license. After the provisional license expires, she said, Cornerstone could be allowed to negotiate for a full license.
“Regardless of any organization’s history, good or bad or really excellent, the state expects those organizations to follow our rules, Wyoming rules on youth care, and that includes background checks on direct care staff,” Rule said.
As of Tuesday, the department had two youths in detention at Wardle plus three others in detention at the Casper facility. In addition, the Wardle facility held 16 youths, and the Casper facility held 30 youths who were sent there for detention by several counties around the state, according to Rule.
Gerry Luce, spokesman for the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday that his department plans to meet with Cornerstone on Friday to discuss how the company could continue to detain youth from the county.
“We’re in the informational stage,” Luce said.
According to Miller, Cornerstone provides a variety of detention and treatment services at a 60-bed juvenile facility in Farmington, Utah, and at a 98-bed juvenile facility in Post, Texas. Miller said Cornerstone also operates two programs in Philadelphia that help institutionalized youth return to their families.
