Locked Versus Closed Doors

A recent audit forces changes at Spring Creek Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs. It centers around the use of a locked or closed door to deal with certain kids at the facility.

Spring Creek houses these troubled youth because of criminal cases they’ve committed. Youth can be locked in their sleeping rooms if they’re a danger to themselves or others while staff gets help to treat them.

A closed, unlocked door is to manage behavior. A recent audit found that seven isolated times over five years, Spring Creek staff managed behavior behind locked doors. That’s not according to protocol according to John Gomez who is Director of the Colorado Division of Youth Corrections. Gomez told me when he learned of these isolated incidents form the auditors, we immediately put a stop to that partacular approach.

I also learned that managing behaviors behind closed doors at Spring Creek can’t go beyond an hour. It did in those isolated instances reflected in the audit. Sometimes it lasted up to three hours. Gomez says he and others are monitoring Spring Creek to prevent a repeat of interchaning the locked versus closed door situations.