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Trine Student Assisting With Assessment at Allen County Juvenile Center
Monday, November 11, 2019

Sydney Stephan hopes to one day become an attorney specializing in family and elder matters. She is preparing for that now by seeing how things work on the other side of the law.

Stephan, a Trine University freshman from Fort Wayne, is working with Kathy Armstrong, Steuben County Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) coordinator, to assist in the Conditions of Confinement Facility Self-Assessment at the Allen County Juvenile Center.

The self-assessment is important for Steuben County because the county does not have a secure detention facility for juveniles, so it uses Allen County as its secure detention facility when needed.

The assessment evaluates the conditions of Steuben County youths and others confined at the Allen County Juvenile Center. Conducted in cooperation with the Whitley County JDAI, it covers areas including: classification and intake; health and mental health care; access; programming; training and supervision of employees; environment; restraints, room confinement, due process and grievances; and safety.

Professionals including prosecuting attorneys, probation officers, sheriffs, pastors and principals are assisting with the effort. Working as individuals or teams, they will carry out separate assessments within the facility.

In addition to making sure the facility is up to standards, the assessment also will evaluate certain juveniles to determine whether this type of confinement is necessary for their individual offense.

Stephan is assigned to the team assessing training and supervision of employees. She also will complete the final report for JDAI.

The university has been a partner with JDAI since 2017, when Cisco Ortiz, then chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, joined the organization's steering committee.

The self-assessment opportunity builds on prior experience Stephan had as a temporary legal assistant at a Fort Wayne law firm, working under attorneys who specialized in different areas. She plans to attend law school after graduating from Trine.

JDAI is a national effort partnering public, private and community organizations for juvenile justice system improvement. The initiative focuses on the reallocation of public resources from mass incarceration toward investment in youth, families and communities.

In Steuben County, JDAI is administered through the county's Probation Department and overseen by Judge Allen Wheat.



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