Connection and Caring Through a Therapeutic Juvenile Corrections Model: Staff and Youth Resident Perceptions of Structural and Interpersonal Dimensions

• Author: Sarah Jane Brubaker,Hayley M. D. Cleary
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211065586
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211065586

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2023, Vol. 67(4) 373 –397

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211065586

journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo

Article

Connection and Caring

Through a Therapeutic

Juvenile Corrections Model:

Staff and Youth Resident

Perceptions of Structural and

Interpersonal Dimensions

Sarah Jane Brubaker1

and Hayley M. D. Cleary1

Abstract

This mixed-method exploratory inductive study examined incarcerated youths’ and

staff members’ perceptions of a new community-focused therapeutic model in a large

youth prison. Via 18 focus groups (N = 141) and facility-wide surveys (N = 248), both

youth and staff shared perceptions of specific structural components of the model

designed to change their relationship to one another, such as consistent staffing,

higher staff-resident ratios, and program features designed to enhance rapport.

Both groups also provided rich descriptions of the altered interpersonal dynamics

related to connection and caring, two of the five C’s of Positive Youth Development

(PYD), that were facilitated through those structural changes. Findings suggest the

model’s intentional redefinition of resident-staff relationships directly contributed to

meaningful resident and staff experiences. Perceptions of those relationships—rarely

explored in the extant literature—were examined and illustrated through focus

group data. This study illuminates the subjective experiences of both groups as they

put the model into practice and reveals key insights about therapeutic correctional

programs based on PYD in secure facilities that have important implications for

juvenile correctional theory, research, practice, and policy.

1Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sarah Jane Brubaker, Department of Criminal Justice, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1001 W.

Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23284, USA.

Email: sbrubaker@vcu.edu

1065586IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211065586International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyBrubaker and Cleary

research-article2021

374 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 67(4)

Keywords

juvenile justice, therapeutic corrections, resident-staff relationships, youth prison,

mixed method, positive youth development

Individual states in the U.S. have engaged in differing levels and forms of juvenile justice

reform for several decades (see, generally, jjgps.org). Many have adopted or adapted the

Missouri Model for managing youth in secure confinement, which emphasizes smaller,

homelike residential facilities; a positive, therapeutic environment; and group-based, peer

focus treatment activities (Huebner, 2013). Like many other states, Virginia’s historical

approach to youth in secure confinement emphasized security and control over rehabilita-

tion. Youth prisons were staffed by Juvenile Correctional Officers whose training com-

prised strategies for physical security and behavioral control over youth (e.g., use of

restraints). In 2016 the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) implemented a new

therapeutically-oriented approach to managing its youth prisons. Developed in-house and

grounded in positive youth development (PYD) theory, the Community Treatment Model

(CTM) adopted a rehabilitation-focused approach to juvenile corrections that was modeled

after the Missouri Model (Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, 2017). The CTM’s

overall goals were to promote youth rehabilitation, reduce behavioral infractions in the

facilities, and better support youths’ reentry into their communities (see Cleary & Brubaker,

2019] for detailed information regarding CTM).

Across states, correctional facilities’ shifts to therapeutic approaches have led to

changes in staff roles, responsibilities, and relationships with incarcerated youth resi-

dents. Little research exists on the implementation of therapeutic programs in general,

and even less has focused on resident-staff relationships. In this article, we provide a

rare look into the perceptions of both residents and staff regarding staff members’ new

roles and approaches to resident-staff relationships under a therapeutic correctional

model inside a large youth prison. We focus on both structural elements of the pro-

gram, such as staff-resident ratios, consistent staffing, and the assignment of advocates

and mentors, as well as interpersonal dimensions of relationships related to caring and

connection, two of the five C’s of PYD (Mercier et al., 2019). The latter elements are

particularly under examined in empirical studies on program implementation and suc-

cess. The present study’s findings provide rich descriptions of the subjective experi-

ences of residents and staff under a therapeutic model that illustrate what therapeutic

relationships look like in juvenile correctional settings and how resident-staff relation-

ships are critical to a therapeutic correctional program’s success.

Positive Youth Development Theory

Based on its successful approach to youth programing (see, e.g., Catalano et al., 2002),

scholars have been addressing the applicability of PYD to juvenile correctional facili-

ties for some time, and the debate regarding its fit and utility continues (Frabutt et al.,

2008). A full description of this framework is beyond the scope of this paper, but

Frabutt et al. (2008) provide a succinct overview of PYD approaches: