Juvenile Detention Center

Detention is a secure environment for youth charged with an offense and pending a court hearing. The detention center is designed to provide a safe living environment and a full range of services for the juvenile to include: medical, educational, psychological, and recreational services.

The detention center is an 80 bed facility consisting of both individual rooms and dormitories. There are three dormitories holding 8 juveniles each, with one reserved for the Juvenile Leadership Academy. Juveniles who have been in detention for at least 2 weeks and who have demonstrated exemplary behavior may be placed in these dormitories.

The detention center offers a full range of services including educational, medical and psychological services along with recreational and spiritual programs. The normal day for a juvenile consists of physical training beginning at 6 AM, breakfast from 7:00 AM to 7:30 AM, review of rules and regulation from 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM, school from 8:00 AM until 12:00 AM and from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM, with recreational programs after 3. The juvenile’s day can end from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm depending on their current behavioral level. The detention center employs 75 full time staff and 18 part-time staff with positions including Detention Officers, Supervisors, Nursing staff, Administrative Secretary, CSR personnel, Kitchen personnel, and an in house LCDC.

The Detention Center provides three single cell occupancy housing units. Of these three units one is designated for females and two units designated for males housing males from ages 10 through 15 years of age in one unit and 15 to 17 years of age

Juveniles are provided with three daily meals and an evening snack. They are also provided with all necessary clothing items and personal hygiene supplies.

Education
These educational services are provided by the Lamar Independent School District. Juveniles are expected to attend and participate in all educational programs.

Counseling
Counseling services in Post Adjudication Detention, which is provided by in-house services, include a psychological evaluation upon admission including a treatment plan for each child. Program activities include group counseling, weekly individual sessions and family sessions. Parents or guardians are expected to participate in the family sessions. Education is provided about life skills, healthy family functioning, adaptive coping strategies, HIV/Aids awareness and other programs with an emphasis on chemical dependency and substance abuse issues.