January 8, 2007

     My internship is being done at the St. Clair County Juvenile Probation Office.  The office is located next to the detention center in Belleville, Il.  My first contact was with the Deputy Director of Probations.   Since I was interested in working more with the juvenile population he allowed me to do my entire internship in the juvenile area.  The supervisor in the juvenile office is Shelia.  Shelia is someone I have known for about three years on a semi-social level.  We have mutual friends and have had reason to see each other on special occasions. I mention this in case my views become slanted due to our “friendship”. Shelia immediately took me around the office and personally introduced me to everyone there.  It was easy to notice that everyone in the office both liked and respected Shelia.  She is very personable and made a point to address everyone with something specific about themselves.  These were both personal and professional comments.  Shelia told me that she had been a juvenile probation officer prior to her promotion.  She has been an employee with this department for about 16 years.  She is the only female supervisor out of roughly 15 positions.  However, she does not seem to let her title get to her “head” and treats everyone in her office as her equal.  It is obvious in the interactions between her and her employees that she is not above helping anyone with anything that needs to be done and her employers appreciate this about her.
     The office is a fairly small building.  Upon entry you are in the waiting area.  This area is for all offenders and their families waiting to see an officer.  To the left is the door leading to the area where the officers are located.  The office is in the shape of a rectangle.  All officers have offices located on the outer perimeter.  The secretary is in an open area and there is a counter in the center of the room.  This counter holds the time sheets were everyone signs in and out.  There is no time clock.  All of the officers’ offices have a desk, computer equipment, filing cabinets, and a couple of chairs.  All employees are able to decorate their space.  There are motivational posters, pictures of families, diplomas, and plants adding a hint of the worker’s personal lives.  Everyone leaves their doors open, including Shelia the Supervisor.  Conversation and office information flows freely from one individual to another.  It is apparent that most of the employees are comfortable both with each other and in their work setting.  When lunch time occurs most of them either run errands or spend time eating with each other.
     There are 11 employees in this office.  There are only two males, one is white and one is African-American.  The rest are all white females.  I wonder if most of the females in probation are found in the juvenile department as a form of job segregation.  It seems that it is accurate to assume that this is a type of occupational segregation since the offenders are all children.  This concept would also be supported by the notion that the adult probation office is almost all male.
     Most of the employees have been there for several years.  The least amount of time in employment is about 3 years.  They all have at least a bachelors degree and Shelia the Supervisor has just completed her masters degree.  They all receive a decent benefits package.  This includes such things as; dental insurance, vision insurance, medical insurance, 8 days of sick time per year, vacation time based on time in employment ( 0-5 years- 2 weeks, 5-12 years- 3 weeks, over 12 years- 4 weeks), and retirement benefits.  They are paid for 37 ½ hours a week because they take an hour for lunch and are only paid for ½ an hour.  There are able to flex their time between the hours of 7 to 5 as long as their hours are met.  They are no benefits for part-time employees.
     After lunch I was able to attend a meeting between one of the officers and a group called Redeploy.  The officer’s name was Rudy and she is in charge of SHOCAP.  SHOCAP is short for the serious habitual offenders unit.  Redeploy is a new program in the state of Illinois, and St. Clair is on of those five test sites. Redeploy is designed to offer rehabilitation to offenders.  This program is based on several organizations working together to offer resources to these habitual offenders in an effort to try to keep them out of the adult corrections system.  These resources may be such things as drug and alcohol treatment, help with their schooling, housing issues, and employment challenges.  There is a list of requirements that must be met to be eligible for this program. (Appendix B)
     The first meeting I attended was a briefing on Rudy’s offenders who are also in the Redeploy program.  The meeting was between workers of Children’s Home and Aid Society (CHASI) and Rudy.  These workers from CHASI are responsible for helping these offenders meet the terms and conditions of their probation agreement and helping them to utilize other resources that are available to them.  Rudy went down a list of offenders and each case manager from CHASI addressed where the individual was at in their program.  They discussed such things as the completion of drug or alcohol treatment, housing concerns, and employment issues.  They discussed how often these offenders have less than ideal home situations and the problems they face trying to find a safe home for them.  This especially becomes a problem for single fathers.  They discussed how there are options for unwed mothers, such as homes and shelters but these are not choices available to men.  They also discussed how hard it is to find housing for people who are mentally disadvantage.  They have homes for several mentally handicapped and for people who need no special needs, but nowhere for those in the middle.  One of the case managers suggested that the single father be given permission to change his residence to be able to cohabitate with the baby’s mother.  Rudy was quick to note that she did not think this was a viable option because of the violate nature of their relationship.  She expressed concern that if they got into a fight he may be tempted to use drugs or engage in criminal behavior.  The case managers when trying to ask for allowances for their clients seem to have a genuine emotional investment.  On the other hand Rudy seems to see things in a more practical tone.  It makes me think of the issue of emotional labor between the two types of jobs that deal with the same person.  Why does one seem much more “attached” than the other? 
     The second meeting I was able to attend was another one dealing with Redeploy.  This one was attended by the head of the juvenile and adult probation offices, representatives of CHASI, Rudy the probation officer of habitual offenders, a member of TASC (Treatment of Alcohol and Substance Counseling), and several other organizations.  They discussed how Redeploy is part of a test pilot for alternatives to traditional forms of punishment for repeat offenders.  They said there are several problems they currently face.  One is in the method of reporting.  They are expected to keep count of how many new offenders they have and see if any of the juvenile alternatives are working.  They said this is a problem to accurately report because juveniles who are sentenced to do weekends are counted as new offenders every weekend even when serving the original sentence.  They also site vague terms as a reporting problem.  For example, how do they define success?  Is this based on fewer cases than the previous year or should it be based on the rate of repeat offenders?  They also discussed how they have seen such a rise in violent crime in female African-American juveniles and how that needs to be addressed as a future target group.  The organizations present also discussed the lack of access to the public defenders office.  They have repeatedly requested meetings with the public defenders office to make sure they are totally aware of the options and choices of alternative punishments available to the offenders.  They hope to have a representative present from the public defenders office for future meetings. 
     At both meetings they discussed the problem facing offenders when searching for a job.  They discussed how many places are now hiring online or having lengthy applications which are hard for border line illiterates to handle.  They also discussed how public transportation is an issue.  Many places that are willing to hire these youth are not on public transit lines.  They addressed the need for a possible committee to look into job placement.