Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice

The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) is a state agency of Virginia, headquartered on the twentieth floor of the 600 East Main Street building in Richmond.[1] The DJJ operates and is responsible for the vast majority of local Court Service Units (often known as juvenile probation offices) across the Commonwealth, as well as the one remaining state-operated Juvenile Correctional Center (Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center), and Juvenile Detention Centers. On any given day, the department has somewhere between 4,500 and 5,000 youth under some kind of supervision, with more than 90 percent of those youth being supervised in their communities through diversion, probation or parole.

The department’s mission is to protect the public by helping court involved youth become productive citizens. It emphasizes four cornerstones of positive youth development which include a feeling of safety in one’s surroundings, a strong sense of connection to one’s community and supportive family members and/or other adults, a belief in the purpose of activities such as education, treatment and vocational training or actual work, and a sense of fairness in the accountability, consequences and opportunities one receives in response to their actions.

Over the last several years, the department has undertaken a rigorous self-analysis to make sure that they are using taxpayer resources effectively, and getting desired outcomes want for the youth, families and communities we serve. This analysis led DJJ to develop an ambitious plan to transform its work to get better outcomes for the children, families and communities we serve. DJJ transformation efforts break down into three core initiatives: (1) Safely Reduce the use of the large and aging juvenile correctional facilities; (2) Reform correctional and treatment practices within the facilities and with youth returning to communities; and (3) Develop a plan to ultimately Replace DJJ’s two facilities with smaller, regional, and treatment oriented juvenile correctional centers and a statewide continuum of local alternative placements and evidence-based services.

Personnel Organization

As of April 2019, the DJJ executive staff consists of six members:[2]

  • DJJ Director: Andrew K. Block, Jr.
  • Chief Deputy Director: Angela C. Valentine
  • Deputy Director of Residential Services: Joyce E. Holmon
  • Deputy Director of Community Programs: Valerie Boykin
  • Deputy Director of Administration and Finance: Jamie Patten
  • Deputy Director of Education: Lisa Floyd

In March 2019, Andrew K. Block Jr. (the architect of Virginia's Juvenile Justice Reform initiative) announced he would be stepping down effective April 19 to be replaced by Valerie Boykin (previously deputy director of community programs at the juvenile justice department).[3]

Facilities

All DJJ secure correctional facilities are in unincorporated areas. Facilities include:[4]

  • Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center (Chesterfield County) - Chartered in 1906 by a private group and opened in Bon Air on a 206 acre[5] farm in 1910, the "Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls" was transferred to the State of Virginia in 1914[6] to enable care and training of "incorrigible white girls"[7]... Currently serving both males and females ages 11–20[8]
  • Central Admission and Placement (Chesterfield County)[9]

Closed facilities
  • Barrett Juvenile Correctional Center (Hanover County) - Opened in 1915 as the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls, it was originally established by the Virginia Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and Janie Porter Barrett. The state took over management of the facility in 1920 and began incarcerating adjudicated black females. In 1965 the facility racially integrated. In 1977 it established a pilot program where male and female juvenile prisoners lived together, and the prison began to only serve male juveniles in 1978.[10]
  • Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center (Powhatan County) - Serves older males up to age 21, As of 2015 it held about 230 inmates[11] Facility officially closed on June 9, 2017, after having been slated for closure by the DJJ in March 2016[12]
  • Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center (Culpeper County) - Housed males ages 18–20[13] Due to budget cuts by the Governor, Culpeper closed in June 2014 to become an Adult Women's Prison with the Virginia Department of Corrections.[14] It had an opening scheduled for July 2017, but it was delayed until July 2018.[15]
  • Hanover Juvenile Correctional Center (Hanover County) - It was established in 1898, and the State of Virginia acquired the facility in 1920. The 1,808-acre (732 ha) complex had space for 120 prisoners.[16]
  • Natural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center (Rockbridge County) - Located on a 100-acre (40 ha) property on a U.S. Department of Agriculture Civilian Conservation Corp Camp in the Jefferson Natural Forest. - Closed on October 10, 2009[17]
  • Oak Ridge Correctional Center (Chesterfield County) - Served persons with severe development issues. As of 2010 it had about 40 inmates.[18]

References
  1. "Home." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010. "Department of Juvenile Justice 700 East Franklin Street, 4th Floor, Richmond, VA 23219."
  2. "DJJ executive staff". virginia department of juvenile justice. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  3. Martz, Michael (2019-03-26). "Andrew Block steps down as juvenile justice director after leading system transformation". Richmond Times Dispatch. Retrieved 16 April 2019. Virginia is losing the leader of a sweeping transformation of its juvenile justice system that has dramatically reduced the number of youth going into state custody and attempted to improve the odds of keeping kids who’ve left custody from returning. Andrew K. Block Jr. said Tuesday that he will step down as director of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice on April 19 after leading the agency for five years under two governors who committed to changing a punitive state approach to rehabilitation that had failed to prevent kids from returning to the system.
  4. "Residential Programs." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
  5. Phillips, Louis C. (1914). Pollard's Code Biennial 1914: Containing All Statutes of a General and Permanent Nature PAssed by the General Assembly of Virginia. Richmond, VA: Everett Wadey Co. pp. 424–426. Retrieved 3 July 2018. and all its prioperty, consisting of a tract of land in the County of Chesterfield Virginia, containing two hundred and six acres
  6. Shepherd, Samuel C. Jr (2001). Avenues of Faith: Shaping the Urban Religious Culture of Richmond, Virginia. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-8173-1076-2. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  7. Report of State Board of Charities and Corrections. Richmond, VA: Virginia. Dept. of Public Welfare. 30 September 1910. p. 46. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  8. "Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010. "Address: 1900 Chatsworth Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23235"
  9. "." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice.
  10. "Barrett Juvenile Correctional Center." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
  11. "Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on December 15, 2015. "3500 Beaumont Road, Beaumont, Virginia 23014"
  12. "."
  13. "Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
  14. "" Fredericksburg.com Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  15. Simmons, Rhonda (2017-07-12). "Planned Culpeper women's prison delayed, again". Culpeper Star-Exponent. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  16. "Hanover Juvenile Correctional Center." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
  17. "Natural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center" (Archive). Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on December 15, 2015.
  18. "Oak Ridge Juvenile Correctional Center." Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. Retrieved on August 13, 2010.
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