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Specialized Correctional Treatment

Introduction
Capital and Serious Violent Offenders
Sex Offenders
Chemically Dependent Youth
Emotionally Disturbed Youth

Introduction

Many youth with identified needs require more intensive and specialized treatment in addition to Resocialization. Specialized residential treatment includes programs designed specifically for the treatment of capital and serious violent offenders, sex offenders, chemically dependent youth, youth with emotional disturbances, and youth with mental retardation.

While TYC does not provide specialized residential treatment for all youth with identified specialized treatment needs, these issues are identified in their individual caseplans and addressed through the Correctional Therapy component of Resocialization. Adjunct clinical services are also available to youth who need it in order to participate successfully in the general treatment program.

TYC's assessment and placement process is designed to ensure that those youth with the most severe need and/or high risk for violent reoffending are assigned to specialized residential treatment programs.

Capital and Serious Violent Offenders

The Giddings State School operates a Capital and Serious Violent Offender Treatment Program for youth that are committed for murder, capital murder, and if the offense involved the use of a weapon or deadly force. The program helps these young people connect feelings associated with their violent behavior and identify risky situations for re-offense with alternative ways to respond. Youth are required to reenact their crimes and play the role of both perpetrator and victim.

The Giddings Capital and Serious Violent Offender Program has gained worldwide attention and been featured on several national news programs. It is one of TYC’s most promising specialized treatment programs. Research shows that participation in this program reduces by 53 percent the likelihood of being rearrested for a violent offense within a year of release.

Sex Offenders

Specialized treatment for sex offenders is provided at three TYC institutions and by specialized contract providers. The sex offender treatment program (SOTP) builds on the agency's Resocialization program using cognitive-behavioral strategies and a relapse prevention component.

Youth in the program receive additional individual and group counseling interventions that focus on the youth's deviant sexuality, in particular, on deviant arousal patterns and deviant sexual fantasies, which contribute to the youth's sexual abusiveness.

Additional program components include psychosexual education and, for those with histories of abuse, trauma resolution therapies. The latest research shows that only one of 257 (0.4%) sex offenders receiving sex offender treatment was rearrested for a violent sex offense within one year of release.

Chemically Dependent Youth

Chemical dependency treatment programs are offered at Giddings State School, Gainesville State School, Crockett State School, San Saba State School, Al Price State Juvenile Correctional Facility (formerly Jefferson County State School) in Beaumont; Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg; and McFadden Ranch in Roanoke. Additional chemical dependency services are provided by contract care programs throughout the state.

Program components include chemical dependency education, group and individual counseling, and living and social skills training. Youth examine their life stories, offense histories, and relapse cycles. The criminal behavior is addressed through linking the use of drugs to the youth’s life story and offense.

Research shows that chemical dependency treatment at McFadden Ranch, a non-secure facility, was found to reduce the likelihood of rearrest for a violent offense within one year by 38%, rearrest for any offense within one year by 40%, and reincarceration for any offense within one year by 18%.

Emotionally Disturbed Youth

The number of youth committed to TYC with severe emotional problems has increased greatly in recent years. The severity of these problems has also increased.

Youth who are diagnosed with severe emotional and/or mental illnesses may receive specialized treatment at Corsicana Residential Treatment Center and at Crockett State School. Those with unstable mental illnesses who are also dangerous to themselves or others receive care at the Corsicana Stabilization Unit.

The immediate goal for this group is treating the basic emotional or mental illness and allowing the youth to regain control over their behavior. When this is accomplished, the youth is ready to benefit from treatment that focuses on changing the delinquent and criminal patterns of behavior. The final goal concerns reintegrating the youth with his/her family and community in a program that addresses the emotional and correctional therapy needs of the youth.

Youth with emotional disturbances pose a particularly difficult problem for TYC, yet the specialized treatment is showing promise. Research showed that specialized treatment in a secure restriction program reduced by 9 percent the likelihood of reincarceration for any offense within one year.

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