Basic Treatment &
Resocialization
Basic Correctional
Treatment
The core element of all TYC treatment programs is a comprehensive rehabilitation
program called Resocialization.
The four
cornerstones of the programs are correctional therapy, education,
work, and discipline training. The program is designed to enhance personal
accountability of delinquent youth by removing justification for continued
delinquency and to provide skills that will enable these youth to make
prosocial choices in the future. The program requires a youth to detail
his or her life story, identify thinking errors, learn the components
of the offense cycle, understand the choices that led him or her to commit
criminal acts, and develop victim empathy, appropriate values and a success
plan for community re-entry.
The Resocialization program is Phase-progressive and competency-based,
which means that youth move gradually from high restriction confinement
to aftercare or parole based on the completion of both the minimum length
of stay and demonstrated mastery of predesignated objectives. Each Phase
has specific individualized objectives for Academic/Workforce
Development, Behavior and Correctional Therapy that a
youth must achieve prior to advancing to the next Phase.
Youth are Phase
Assessed monthly in each ABC area and progress in each
area as objectives are completed. Only through compliance with
program rules and completion of the Resocialization Phases may
a youth earn rewards and privileges. Youth begin on Phase ABC and
are eligible for parole when assessed on Phase A4B4C4 and upon
completion of the minimum length of stay. While on parole, youth
are assessed for completion of Parole Phase objectives in each
area. The Resocialization program emphasizes personal responsibility
for behavior, self-control, academics, vocational and social skills
development, and restitution to victims and the community.
The environment at
all correctional institutions consists of a 16-hour day that requires
youth be engaged in constructive activity during all waking hours.
Activities are centered around the four cornerstones of Resocialization
and include education, physical training, military movement drills,
correctional therapy sessions, leadership and social skills training,
work activities, facility maintenance, homework, meals, and personal
hygiene routines. By keeping youth continually and constructively
occupied, youth have fewer opportunities to get into or create trouble
within facilities. Uniform dress, neat personal appearance, and military
style haircuts are mandatory at TYC facilities. A distinction is made
between youth rights and earned privileges. Due process, medical care,
food, clothing, and shelter are basic needs provided to all youth.
However, a youth must now earn his or her privileges.
Four
Cornerstones of Resocialization
Resocialization
Children
are not born delinquents. They become so in a developmental context
that socializes them in a particular way. The result is a delinquent
self-identity and pattern of meeting needs at the expense of others.
The majority of youth in TYC custody can benefit from learning new
socialization patterns. The TYC model for rehabilitation of delinquent
youth is known as Resocialization. Resocialization is the process
by which individuals learn new norms, rules and expectations for
behavior that allow them to get their needs met without violating
the rights of others.
The program is
based on four cornerstones: Correctional
Therapy, Education, Discipline Training and Work. Youth
are engaged in Resocialization activities 16 hours per day. Resocialization
is a process that youth move through at different rates. It is
a phase-progressive program, meaning youth must demonstrate specific
competencies in all resocialization tasks before they are considered
for release to less restriction. They must also complete minimum
lengths of stay associated with their offense classifications.
Our
goal is to resocialize delinquent youth in a manner that is respectful
of cultural differences, validates the reality of their life
experiences and reintegrates them into the community as productive
citizens.
The TYC Resocialization
process is a comprehensive system. We seek to address biological
factors and underlying emotional dynamics that fuel delinquent behaviors,
to remove cognitive justifications used by youth for continued delinquency
and to teach skills that will enable youth to make pro-social choices
in the future. Effective Resocialization depends upon accurate identification
of causative or contributing factors to the delinquent behaviors,
recognition of the unmet needs that are motivating the behaviors
and interventions aimed at the appropriate developmental systems.
Youth must develop both the desire and the know-how in
order to effectively change.
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