Washington, DC: "Between 50 and 70% of the young prisoners in [jail] have a mental illness"

Mar 22, 2018, Washington, DC, Sojourners’: Mental Health Disorders Are Pervasive in the Juvenile Justice System. Here’s How One State Is Addressing It https://sojo.net/articles/mental-health-disorders-are-pervasive-juvenile-justice-system-here-s-how-one-state Between 50 and 70 percent of the young prisoners in state juvenile justice systems have a mental disability, but an analysis of those systems found that only one state — Indiana — requires all teachers in such facilities to have special education certification. … Grubbs said that after the certification requirement was implemented about 12 years ago, student prisoners’ education progress improved, although he declined to offer data detailing the improvement. Indiana’s system is a good model because of the higher percentage of incarcerated youths with mood disorders, said Christy Sampson-Kelly, director of practitioner support at the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings. About 20 percent of young Americans experience a mental disorder at some point in their lives – less than half the percentage of young inmates nationwide who have mental disabilities. … Rachel Hobson, director of student support and special education at a New Orleans school for youth awaiting trial, said security staff for juvenile centers often aren’t trained in how to deal with special needs offenders and instead see the students as simply defiant. …