Future of Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers Debated

Proposals spelling out how Nebraska should treat young people who are sent to its youth rehabilitation and treatment centers are advancing in the Legislature.

The state’s Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers, or YRTCs, have been in the spotlight since last August, when the YRTC for girls in Geneva, Nebraska was emptied out because of deplorable conditions and a lack of programs. Most of the girls were moved to the boy’s YRTC in Kearney, and a new facility was opened in Lincoln. Tuesday, the Legislature considered a series of proposals designed to improve conditions in those facilities.

They would also create a long-range plan for how to treat young people age 14-19 who can be sent there for offenses like burglary or assault. Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, described part of the message the legislation is intended to send.

“What we're saying is that if you decide to have a YRTC, you need to make sure that you're providing kids with a safe place to sleep. You're educating them appropriately, you're providing them with programming. And so we give you the parameters of what a YRTC is, but we're not going to tell you where it's going to be. But we do require you to make sure that boys and girls are kept separate in a safe and appropriate way,” Howard said.

Sen. John Lowe of Kearney said he’s concerned the proposals might tie the hands of state administrators, who established the facility in Lincoln.

“We need to leave our options open. Sometimes we write legislation, we close options, and I would hate to see the Lincoln facility not be utilized by the YRTCs,” Lowe said.

Howard said the Lincoln facility was established to house both boys and girls, but currently has only boys.

Lowe defended having both boys and girls at the YRTC in Kearney. He talked about an incident last week when girls stole some keys and offered them to the boys to escape with them.

“The boys handed the keys back to the staff members. And they all went back to their beds. Every single young man did. There's a change happening and it's for the good,” he said.

Howard agreed, but said the incident highlights potential problems.

“They got seven girls together, they stole the keys, they went over to the boys, they let 18 boys out. And the boys decided, ‘You know what? I don't want to escape. I don't want to make a mistake.’ Two of the boys were actually some of the ones who had beaten up the guard the week previously, they made a good choice. Right? And so the next day they were given sort of a treat for that. But what it highlights and what worries me is that it was so easy for the girls to get those keys and go over to the boys,” she said.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha spelled out her fear. “If we do not do something, we are going to be dealing with sexual assault of teenage girls. We all know that. We all know that if we do not remove these girls from that premises that we are going to be dealing with sexual assault of those girls at Kearney,” Cavanaugh said.

Lowe said the girls would be safe.

“They are safe. They are watched over. And the only reason why the girls got close to the guys was because they assaulted a staff member and they were able to get the keys. They are watched. The staff was watching when the girls got there. They're watched. There will not be a sexual assault,” he said.

Senators voted 32-9 for an amendment by Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth that says as long as the YRTC at Kearney stays open, it will house only boys; and as long as Geneva stays open, it will be restricted to girls.

But Howard said keeping those facilities open may not be the best course, and that Missouri has had success with smaller, community-based facilities. Senators approved moving a package of proposals dealing with the YRTCs to the next round of debate.

Meanwhile, one member of the officially nonpartisan Legislature who has been critical of his party has launched a website to redefine what it means to be a Republican.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha drew attention after the El Paso mass shooting last year when he tweeted that the Republican Party was “enabling white supremacy,” prompting calls for him to quit the party. His new site, johnmccollister.com, asks people for contributions and seeks to “redefine Republican.” In an interview, McCollister described what he’s trying to do.

“We're trying to distinguish between types of Republican here. We've got an election in November, and the result of that election -- who knows what could happen -- but it may be such that the Republican Party are looking for a new identity. Heretofore they've pretty much identified with Donald Trump. But you know if that doesn't come out as well as some …Republicans hope, maybe we're looking for a new identity,” McCollister said.

McCollister listed a number of issues on which he said the Republican Party has distanced itself from its previous positions, including debt, foreign policy, the environment and free trade.

In response, J.L. Spray, Republican National Committeeman for Nebraska, said Trump has actually promoted Republican positions, if not traditional rhetoric about them.

“Let's take trade for instance. Yeah, maybe the president doesn't articulate free trade quite the way the Bush administration did, or people want to think they did. But we just entered into three trade agreements. I don't know what's not free about those trade agreements,” Spray said.

Spray criticized McCollister for issuing a “personal manifesto,” instead of working through the party, if he wants changes in its platform.

McCollister, who has two and a half more years in the Legislature before he’s term-limited out, said he doesn’t yet know what he’ll do with any money he raises from the new website. He said he could use it to run for city council, county board, or a public utility board, and some people have suggested running for governor. But he said he’s not interested in running for Congress.