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Ohio Juvenile Detention Director's Association

Featured Facility

Multi-County Juvenile Detention Center

The Multi-County Juvenile Detention Center (MCJDC) is located in Lancaster, Ohio. The facility opened on February 2, 2004. The four counties comprising the Multi-County Juvenile Detention Center District are Fairfield, Licking, Hocking, and Perry Counties. Athens and Pickaway Counties contract bed space with MCJDC. This state of the art maximum security facility has 48 beds and houses both male and female juvenile offenders. The average length of stay is 16 days.

MCJDC is operated by two Boards; the Board of Trustees and the Joint Board of Commissioners.

The Board of Trustees is the operational governing authority. Its responsibilities include the employment of the Superintendent; budget development and control, authorization of expenditures, setting compensation of the Superintendent and other employees, monitoring and authorization of personnel policies and procedures and the oversight and monitoring of the facilities and programs. 

The Joint Board of Commissioners consists of all of the Commissioners from the four counties in the District. The Joint Board of Commissioners adopts an annual budget, appropriates all monies, and approves all grants and contracts.

Administration

Kirk A. Davis, MCJ- Superintendent

Kirk A. Davis, MCJ has been the Superintendent at MCJDC since March 23, 2009. Prior to becoming Superintendent, Mr. Davis was part of the administrative team at the Wood County Juvenile Detention Center in Bowling Green, Ohio. Superintendent Davis has worked in juvenile corrections since August 1993. Superintendent Davis also has over 8 years experience working as a police officer.

Superintendent Davis earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Lourdes College and received his Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Tiffin University.

Superintendent Davis has served for two terms on the Executive Board of the Ohio Juvenile Detention Directors Association (OJDDA). Superintendent Davis is currently serving his second two-year term as President of OJDDA. Superintendent Davis also serves on the Ohio Supreme Court Judicial College Training and Education Committee for juvenile detention centers. Superintendent Davis has also served as a State Representative for the Ohio Juvenile Detention Services Association (OJDSA) Superintendent Davis also served as an adjunct instructor at Owens Community College for 10 years prior to becoming the Superintendent at MCJDC.

Dana C. Moore, Assistant Superintendent

Ms. Moore has served as the Assistant Superintendent of the Multi-County Juvenile Detention Center since it opened in February 2004. Ms. Moore brings to the facility over 17 years of experience in juvenile corrections, management and residential services. Ms. Moore currently serves as an Executive Board member for the Ohio Juvenile Detention Directors Association.

Ms. Moore was instrumental in the opening of the facility through the development of all operational policies and protocols, as well as hiring all employees and the coordination of their training.

Prior to employment at the Multi County Juvenile Detention Center, Assistant Superintendent Moore served 8 years for the Ohio Department of Youth Services. She began her career as a social worker, and advanced to a unit manager position. Ms. Moore was ultimately promoted as the Assistant Operations Manager of the Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility.

Shift Managers (Lieutenants)

MCJDC employs five Shift Managers. Under the direction of the Assistant Superintendent, Shift Managers serve as mentors to subordinates; commands, supervises, coordinates, and directs activities of Juvenile Detention Officers on assigned shifts; ensures basic discipline and control of residents are maintained by staff; ensures the safety and security of the building, grounds, residents, and staff are maintained; ensures residents’ basic needs are met; and provides additional support as needed. MCJDC also utilizes Officers in Charge (OICs). OICs are Juvenile Detention Officers who are trained to perform Shift Manager duties when needed. 

Staff and Training

Orientation Training- All newly-hired Juvenile Detention Officers receive 120 hours of training prior to assuming supervision of resident housing units. Included in the 120 hours of training are policy and procedure review, response to resistance and aggression training, emergency response training, CPR/First Aid/AED training, as well as training with a field training officer (FTO).

Ongoing Training- Staff members exceed the minimum 40 hours of training mandated by the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Training sessions include: CPR/First Aid/AED, emergency response training, nonviolent crisis intervention, response to resistance and aggression, report writing, signs of abuse, neglect, and mandatory reporting, professionalism and ethics, evidence collection and crime scene preservation, Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), mass emergency evacuations, cultural diversity, verbal strategies, and supervisory training for administrative staff.

Monthly meetings are conducted for the following departments: supervisory, education, and medical.

Programming

Visitation- To encourage regular contact with parents and legal guardians, MCJDC offers three visitation periods per week. These visitations sessions are 20 minutes in duration. Visitation sessions are conducted on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Residents are permitted to visit with applicable professionals (i.e. attorneys, counselors, probation officers, clergy, etc.) for an unlimited amount of time during reasonable hours.

Education- MCJDC employs 3 full time teachers that meet the highly qualified teacher status. Residents receive 6 hours 25 minutes of education daily. Residents receive instruction in Math, English, Literature, Social Studies, Science, Art, Life Skills, Pro-social skills, and Phys. Ed. Students with IEPs receive daily instruction from an Intervention Specialist to ensure their IEPs are met. Residents also receive homework assignments from MCJDC teacher twice per week. Residents also work on assignments from their home school districts when home school districts forward assignments to MCJDC. MCJDC also contracts with the Fairfield County Education Service Center to provide our teachers with the supervision and mentorship required in order to meet their licensure requirements.

Religious- Chaplain Steve Telfer from Youth for Christ provides religious services on Sundays and Thursday evenings for residents. Chaplain Telfer also provides individual spiritual guidance throughout the week to residents requesting to meet with Chaplain Telfer individually.

Recreation- Residents receive passive and cardiovascular recreation on a daily basis. During passive recreation, residents interact with one another, and play appropriate board games. Residents receive at a minimum one hour of cardiovascular recreation daily. Cardiovascular recreation consists of circuit training, kick ball, waffle ball, volley ball, among other activities.

Cognitive Behavior- Residents receive cognitive behavior training daily. A Juvenile Detention Officer leads group discussions on a specific topic. Through group talk, residents analyze real life situations they encounter on a daily basis and discuss positive and negative potential decisions that can be made and the importance of making proper decisions when confronted with challenging situations. The goal is to get residents to think through situations they’re faced with and to make appropriate decisions and change their lives in a positive manner while still detained and when they’re released from MCJDC.

Library- MCJDC has a full library of books that have been donated from schools, libraries, and parents. MCJDC also partners with the Fairfield County OUTREACH service. OUTREACH provides books to MCJDC on a monthly basis for residents to have access to additional books for education and pleasure reading.

Physical Training- Every morning prior to breakfast, residents receive physical training that teaches them the importance of physical conditioning and structure. During physical training, residents perform a variety of exercises to include: running, pushups, sit-ups, eight-count body builders, among a variety of other exercises to stress the importance of establishing and maintaining proper physical conditioning.  

Phone Calls and Letter Writing- To encourage communication with parents, legal guardians, and other authorized individuals, residents are permitted to make collect phone calls and write an unlimited amount of letters. 

Support Services

Mental Health- Sara McCoy is the Licensed Social Worker. Ms. McCoy’s duties involve interviewing all incoming youth to determine if they should be lowered from a suicide watch or in need of special accommodations. Lead 8 groups during the week for youth, 4 groups consisting of Life Skills and 4 Pro-Social groups. Assists in crisis intervention, verbal de-escalation, process requests forms and assist with abuse allegations. Prepares written documents; give verbal reports to outside agencies.  Prepares individual behavior plans for non-compliant youth. Pre groups to be instructed by JDO’s for the youth. Ms. McCoy also facilitates Emergency Response Training classes for staff.

   

Medical- The medical staff takes great pride in attending to the youth’s daily medical needs. Each youth is seen within 7 days of their intake to ensure there are no medical issues that need to be addressed. Each youth’s medical complaints are handled on a daily basis by the Licensed Practical Nurses. Medications are administered to each youth on a timely schedule. A courtesy call is made to the guardians to make them aware of refills on medications that are needed for their child one week in advance in most cases. There are two physicians and a Registered Nurse that oversees the clinic ensuring the clinic is running properly. The Physicians are available 24 hours daily to handle any emergent matters that may arise or any youth that may need medical attention while detained. A nurse is also available 24/7 for the Lieutenants to consult with regarding any medical concerns or questions. The goal of the medical staff is to maintain the health of each youth while they are detained. LPN Amy Hines facilitates all CPR/First Aid/AED training.

Official Site of the Ohio Juvenile Detention Director's Association.

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Chaplain Steve Telfer

Dana C. Moore

Kirk A. Davis