Sep
17
Workers at privately run teen detention centers paid less
Filed Under juvenile justice, privatization | Comments Off
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Workers who guard and mentor teens in privately run programs for teen offenders make so little that some qualify for food stamps and other aid, according to a state report released Friday.
The typical worker in a private residential center for troubled teens makes $18,663 a year, thousands less than employees in similar state-run programs. But the executives who run private programs under state contract are doing fine – taking home higher salaries on average than their counterparts in state government, the study found.
Legislators asked the Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability for the study earlier this year, after The Palm Beach Post reported that the workers in privately run programs for teens make some of the lowest wages in the nation.
Judges sentence teens to the programs, about 90 percent of which are run by private managers under state contract. Some are managed by nonprofit agencies, and others are managed by publicly traded corporations based in other states or overseas.
The front-line workers in most private residential programs aren’t required to have more than a high school diploma and aren’t always trained to reform difficult, aggressive teens, the study said. State-run residential programs require 240 hours of training, compared to 120 for privately-run programs.
During researchers’ visits, “youth at a number of facilities indicated that they were routinely verbally abused, cursed, and humiliated by staff,” the state report said. “For example, staff reportedly responded to poor behavior by saying, ‘That’s why your parents don’t come to visit,’ and ‘That’s why you don’t have a family.’ ”
The average staff turnover in programs meant to rehabilitate teen offenders is 55 percent, and leaders of several programs told legislators this year that they are losing workers to warehouses and retail stores.
Last year, A Palm Beach County grand jury report said turnover was so bad at the Florida Institute for Girls in suburban West Palm Beach that teens were forced to miss school and activities because there weren’t enough people to watch them.
Better-paid employees tend to stay on the job longer, the OPPAGA study found. The Pensacola Boys Base, which has a median salary of $28,019, did not lose any employees in the year surveyed. In contrast, the Hastings Youth Academy in northeast Florida paid $16,641 and had 105 percent turnover in one year.
And the profit motive does make a difference: Programs run by private companies paid their workers a median of $17,906 a year, compared with $19,881 at those managed by nonprofit agencies. State workers in similar programs make a median of $22,762 a year.
Key legislators initially agreed last year that privately run programs needed an $11 million increase from the state, but later reduced the amount after disagreements over how it should be spent.
Sen. Victor D. Crist, the Tampa Republican who chairs the Justice Appropriations committee, said Friday that the study shows executives at private contractors tend to take care of their own salaries before spending on lower-paid workers. He said he will try again to bring salaries to $24,000 statewide, with enough oversight to make sure the money goes to the right people.
Rep. Gustavo A. Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, said he would consider an across-the-board expenditure that contractors could use for raises or incentives, but does not want to set a minimum salary.
“I don’t think it is the state’s responsibility to dictate to the private providers what they should pay their workers,” he said.
Copyright 2005 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
September 17, 2005 Saturday
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