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Gone are the days in the late 1990s and early 2000s when neighbors of the Victor Cullen Center would look out their windows to see police cars lining the road in preparation for unannounced manhunts.
And no longer is the northern Frederick County facility bursting at the seams with hundreds of residents under the care of a private company that admitted it was ill-equipped to treat delinquent youths who have mental health needs.
Instead, state officials, including Helen Mency, superintendent of the Victory Cullen Children's Center, are so confident in their ability to "rid us of the stigma of the Victor Cullen of old" that they have virtually handed the keys to the facility to nine handpicked citizens that make up a new Facility Advisory Board.
The board's purpose is to "advise the secretary, the deputy secretaries, the assistant secretary for residential services and the facility superintendent in matters that relate to the effected operation and improvement of the facilities," according to its guidelines.
Maryland Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Donald W. DeVore, at the facility advisory board's first meeting last week, asked board members to inspect the center at will, and to feel free to interview its young male residents.
"I'm asking you to try something a little different with us," DeVore said on Aug. 20.
The nine-member advisory board received an orientation on their duties and procedures before taking an resident-led tour of the century-old facility. The Victor Cullen Facility Advisory Board will meet to elect officers on Nov. 19. The board is open to nominations for up to 11 new members.
"I'm looking forward to being a part of it," said Deputy Kevin White Sr., of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office's community services section. White said Wednesday that on the tour – his second of the facility this year – he was "real impressed with" the young men who led the tour, as well as improvements to the school building on the campus.
The Victor Cullen Children's Center is expected to reach its state-mandated maximum capacity of 48 by Monday.
DeVore selected members of the board after an application process that began last year. The board members, whom DeVore said have "special and privileged status" as his appointees, will have access to the facility and its inmates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. State representatives handed board members orientation packets that included inspection check lists that DeVore urged them to use during unannounced, staff-led tours of the facility.
The checklists have "acceptable," "unacceptable" and "needs repair" columns for 39 items, ranging from food appearance and neatness of the grounds to the professionalism of the staff and demeanor of inmates.
"I don't know how we can possibly be any more transparent," he said. But information that inmates tell inspectors in confidence should remain confidential, DeVore added.
"What you learn about these young men should remain here as you leave," DeVore said.
Since reopening in July 2007, the center has had an uneven 13 months in operation.
As of July of this year, 22 young men had completed their treatment and graduated from the center. The treatment model focuses on strict routines, work, education and peer evaluation.
But four juveniles, including one with a history of violence at other Maryland juvenile detention facilities, went AWOL in separate incidents.
An investigation in June by the attorney general's office in response to a June 16 escape found that the center had not effectively alerted neighbors and area law enforcement agencies about the incident. According to a report available online, the center's alert sirens weren't loud enough, its call list was outdated and the lack of an electronic monitoring system hampered an initial search for two missing youths who had beaten a staff member and escaped over a 15-foot, "no-climb" fence.
The escapees, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, were apprehended days later in Prince George's County and Baltimore, respectively. They will not return to the Cullen Center.
A Maryland State Department of Education official was terminated after the investigation because the official hadn't warned state officials that one of the escapees had announced a desire to escape.
"We're still getting our sea legs here," DeVore said last week.
Mency took over the head position at the facility on Dec. 13, the same day that the state announced the resignation of former Victor Cullen superintendent Chris Perkins.
It cost the state more than $10 million to reopen the center, which has a $6 million budget for fiscal 2009. Four more secure detention facilities are slated for openings in the next four or five years, according to DeVore, in an effort by the state to treat juveniles in the state instead of sending them to facilities around the country.
White said he's been involved with Victor Cullen as a liaison between Frederick County residents and the state department since last year. He said Wednesday he sees DeVore's invitation to board members to inspect the facility as "necessary."
"I think he's always been real forthcoming and open to citizens and police, whoever wants to come and know what the plan is … since I've been involved," White said. "I think that's how you have to be."
Victor Cullen Facility Advisory Board members include:
Chad Atmane*
Dorothy Buhrman, neighbor, secretary of the Northwestern Frederick County Civic Association
David Dingle, neighbor
Robert Fox, neighbor
Elaine Gladhill, neighbor
Sandra Johnson*
Chief Barry Keller, Washington Township Police Department, Waynesboro, Pa.
Frank Turner, neighbor
Deputy Kevin White Sr., Frederick County Sheriff's Office community services
*did not attend meeting
