GREENFIELD — An independent organization committed to systemic juvenile justice reform recently published a report indicating the number of youth receiving special education services at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction was lower than it should have been from September 2019 to June 2020, but the sheriff explained the figures are the result of safety procedures at the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset.
Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan said there was a period of time in early 2020 when the facility, like others in Massachusetts, did not permit visits. This includes education providers, as the state contracts with Special Education in Institutional Settings and no county jails provides their own special education services.
Citizens for Juvenile Justice published a report in August that states, based on population estimates, three to six youths held in the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction each month in 2020 had a legal right to special education services while incarcerated. However, only 1.2 were identified as having received these services from September 2019 to June 2020.
“Basically, it was what it was,” Donelan said about that time in the pandemic’s early days. “We lost all kinds of education and treatment opportunities … during the height of Covid.”
Donelan also said his facility does not house juveniles, but accepts 18- and 19-year-olds attending high school.
Joshua Dankoff, CfJJ’s director of strategic initiatives, said Donelan’s explanation “sounds like a reasonable and plausible explanation for that early drop, because COVID threw a lot of things on its head.”
Dankoff also said Franklin County’s numbers from 2018 and early 2019 were much closer to CfJJ’s estimated figures.
“I’m certainly not trying to throw (the Franklin County jail) under the bus or anything – just presenting the data that was there,” he said.
Dankoff said the report took roughly a year to research and publish. He also said he was pleased to hear the jail conducts evaluations on everyone taken in to determine if special education services are needed.
The report can be found online at bit.ly/3RlLGjN. More information on Citizens for Juvenile Justice is also available online at www.cfjj.org/.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.