Reshaping the Design Of Juvenile Facilities in Kansas.

Early next year, the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority (KJJA) plans to break ground for a new juvenile correctional center in Topeka, Kan., to open in December 2002. The planned 225-bed facility promises to transform the state's approach to dealing with youthful offenders in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Reform Act passed by the Kansas Legislature in 1996.

The Reform Act

This legislation directs the state to implement a balanced approach to juvenile justice. A number of states have tilted toward this approach, sometimes referred to as balanced and restorative justice, during the past 15 years. In 1996, Kansas gave it top priority. A system of balanced and restorative justice has three goals: to ensure public safety, hold juvenile offenders accountable, and provide offenders with life and work skills they can use upon release.

The Reform Act also set new sentencing guidelines that changed the type of juveniles sent to state facilities. Under these guidelines, only certain serious crimes would merit sentencing to state juvenile institutions. Less serious offenses would result in sentencing to county facilities and programs.

KJJA, through discussions with county and local authorities, developed a master plan designed to coordinate the efforts of each in achieving the goals of restorative justice laid out in the Reform Act. Under the master plan, county and local responsibilities would include certain kinds of residential programs, alternatives to incarceration, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. The state would assume responsibility for more violent, chronic and difficult offenders. The current Kansas model allows for sentencing its juvenile offenders to incarceration in one of four existing state facilities.

Seeking an Impartial Assessment

KJJA retained the San Francisco-based consulting firm of Kaplan, McLaughlin, Diaz (KMD Justice) to evaluate the state's existing juvenile facilities and suggest necessary upgrades. The consultants concluded that existing facilities could carry out some but not all of the state's new assignments. None of the existing facilities could provide the most violent offenders with the full complement of security, educational and counseling services mandated by the Reform Act. KMD Justice also concluded that Kansas previously used an inadequate diagnostic and classification system that simply assigned residents to open beds, giving too little consideration to programming or security needs. Its report also cited a lack of medical facilities beyond conventional infirmaries within the existing facilities.

KMD Justice evaluated the feasibility of renovating each of the facilities and concluded that it would be too costly. The solution, they said, was the construction of a new 225-bed facility designed to fulfill three needs lacking in the current system: diagnostics and classification, maximum-security detention (for male offenders) balanced with appropriate educational and counseling programs, and medical services for both male and female offenders.

Designing a Balanced and Restorative justice Facility

Horst, Terrill & Karst Architects, P.A. (HTK Architects of Topeka) drew the design assignment for the new juvenile correctional complex in association with KMD Justice. The chief design priority was that the facility allow KJJA to rebalance its human resources and devote more staff to programs and fewer officers to supervision and guard duty. At the same time, the facility would have to accommodate 150 offenders in maximum-security pods, 60 offenders in the diagnostics and classification area, and 15 offenders (including five beds for pregnant offenders in their last trimester) in the infirmary.

A 20-acre site in Topeka was chosen for the facility, which is adjacent to an existing 60-acre, 219-bed juvenile correctional facility. A security road and perimeter fence encircle both facilities. To maintain separation between the facilities, the site plan calls for the construction of a visual earthen barrier between the two facilities. A parallel security fence provides further separation.

At first, the 20-acre site for the new facility appeared restrictive. After all, the existing facility housed 219 beds, while the new one will accommodate 225 beds on one-third the land area. While considering the problem, architects altered their perspectives and attempted to determine the potential benefits of a more compact installation.

A small, consolidated facility might promote the goal of rebalancing resources between programming and supervision. A compact institution might require less time and labor to transport residents from one area of the facility to another. Self-contained living units under the same roof as general recreational, educational and medical facilities might reduce the number of officers assigned to around-the-clock guard duties. Advanced electronic security systems might further these benefits.

Although HTK developed an innovative design addressing these issues, the medical service area deserves special mention. More of a hospital than an infirmary, this area will be equipped and staffed to treat very ill residents, as well as pregnant offenders in their third trimester. The existing medical system requires residents with these needs to travel to often-reluctant community hospitals under constant supervision. The new medical service facilities will accommodate residents across the system and eliminate the need to pay for overtime and accommodations for off-site supervision.

Using Technology to Reduce Staffing

The compact design of the facility also allows the use of comprehensive electronic security technology. KJJA retained Buford Goff and Associates Inc., of Columbia, S.C., to design an integrated system of institutional door control, access control, closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring and communications.

The security monitoring and control system uses a nonproprietary graphical user interface (GUI) that allows touch-screen or mouse operation of the Microsoft NT system and eliminates the need for bulky, button-heavy custom control panels. Mastery of intuitive GUI systems generally is easy for system operators and requires limited training. For example, if someone pushes a call button at the door of a secure area, an icon will flash on the screen. When the operator touches or clicks on the icon, a floor plan appears and pinpoints the location of the call. From there, the operator can touch an icon representing a nearby video camera, see the person who has called, and initiate a conversation through an intercom icon. Following the conversation, the operator can decide to admit the individual by way of another screen icon. With this system, a few officers in the control room can handle the general supervisory work of many patrolling officers.

Officers will, of course, patrol the facility. But the sophisticated monitoring capability of the control center may make it possible to shift some of the hours devoted to physical patrol to programming. Industrial programmable logic controllers ensure the flexibility and reliability of the door control and monitoring systems. For example, officers generally will operate cell doors manually. But in compliance with code requirements for emergency egress, the monitoring and control system can release specific groups of locks or all the locks.

Certain doors will feature vandal-resistant proximity card readers allowing authorized staff convenient entry and exit. This system aims to reduce the use of keys in the facility, provide more effective management of area access and reduce the workload of console operators, again freeing up hours for programs. Color CCTV cameras located throughout the facility will monitor door control and personnel movement. The cameras also will provide general surveillance of sensitive areas. Matrix video switchers in an equipment room will allow sequential scanning as well as the selection of individual cameras.

Throughout the facility, several intercom systems will provide communications. At the entrances throughout the facility, intercoms will connect with central control to aid in controlling access. Each resident's room will contain an intercom capable of communicating with the dayroom officer.

A one-way paging system will support communications. Staff can access the paging system from the control consoles and the site intercom and telephone systems. All staff also will carry two-way radios equipped with personal alarm buttons. Should an alarm arrive at the monitoring center, a computer screen will display a map with a flashing icon displaying the location.

Vehicle detectors will call up designated intercoms from remotely controlled vehicle gates. CCTV cameras also will monitor vehicle access.

All security and communication systems will receive power from an emergency power bus through an uninterruptible power service (UPS) unit, sized to provide a minimum of 20 minutes of standby power if the building's overall power systems fail.

Technology also will support programming directly. A television distribution system will pipe selected television channels throughout the facility. These channels may include local cable, satellite dish reception, VCR and even locally generated programming. The television system design will allow for the addition of a videoconferencing room in the future. At some point, KJJA hopes to handle court conferences from the facility to eliminate the need to escort residents to court. Such a system also may serve as a tool for progress conferences among offenders, their field supervisors and perhaps, legal guardians.

Plans also call for the installation of several computers in each classroom as well as a fully equipped computer lab. The classroom computers will allow other programming possibilities as well. For example, the educational staff is preparing curricula for computer repair and computer-related vocational training programs.

Controlling Cost Through Design

Current cost estimates for the construction of this facility total approximately $29.9 million. KJJA hopes to decrease the cost by $500,000 with value engineering. Even at the current budget level, comparisons with other facilities suggest that the design falls comfortably within conventional budgeting boundaries, despite the heavy use of technology. For example, in the fall of 1990, Kansas built a 640-bed maximum-security adult facility in El Dorado. Construction cost $49.8 million -- about $77,812 per bed and $129.27 per square foot.

If those figures were adjusted to reflect current costs, that facility would cost $67.2 million to build, or about $105,046 per bed and $174.52 per square foot. In comparison, the $29.9 million current budget for the new KJJA facility produces a cost per bed of $133,234 and a cost per square foot of $159.07 -- more per bed, but less per square foot. If the new KJJA facility had as many beds as the one in El Dorado, its costs would fall to $88,744 per bed and $155.78 per square foot, well below the adjusted costs at El Dorado.

Construction represents a small fraction of the cost of a correctional facility. Operating costs and labor, in particular, pose the greatest challenge to budgeters. The new KJJA facility is likely to shine when it comes to labor costs. Current estimates suggest that a total staff of 260 will adequately serve the needs of the facility and its 225 residents, a ratio of 1.16 staff members to each resident. This ratio is virtually the same as those found at other juvenile institutions around the country.

Yet, this institution will provide a vastly different balance between staff dedicated to programs and staff dedicated to supervision, thanks to an innovative physical design that enhances the efficiencies of security technology.

Gary G. Karst, AIA, is president and director of design for HTK Architects of Topeka, Kan. James Frazier is assistant commissioner with the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority.