Sir, Kids Like Marching ‘Boot Camp’ Popular With Young Inmates

Being jarred awake at 5:30 a.m., making beds with hospital corners and marching in the midday August heat don’t seem like things a bunch of teenagers would enjoy.

Especially teenagers doing time.

But a new “boot camp” program at the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center is getting good reviews from the young prisoners.

The experimental program was launched two weeks ago to give the kids something to do while detention center teachers were on summer vacation.

It combines standard boot camp activities, like drills, calisthenics and cleaning details, with classes on CPR, anger management and victim awareness.

“We didn’t know how it was going to turn out, frankly,” said Rand Young, detention center administrator. “To our surprise, they’re doing it, and they’re doing it well.”

It’s been so successful, juvenile officials are talking about making it permanent.

The juvenile lawbreakers say the military-style atmosphere supplies discipline and structure they rarely get in the outside world.

“I like it a lot,” said one 16-year-old boy, taking a break from marching practice in the Mallon Avenue center’s concrete courtyard Thursday.

“I used to get mad and stuff, but I’ve had a change of heart. Now it’s ‘yes, sir’ and ‘no, sir.”’

A 17-year-old girl serving time in the facility agreed.

“Like the getting up at 5:30,” she said. “If you’re out there looking for a job, and you get up at 5:30, you can get there first. That makes them think you want it. If you don’t get there until 11 or 11:30, they think you’re a slacker.”

Fighting and other behavior problems have decreased dramatically since the program began, said Tom Davis, juvenile court services director.

“Our misbehavior in detention has dropped to nearly zero,” he said.

Said Young: “It’s like they have a new sense of respect for the staff here.”

Programs supervisor Bill Barnett said the kids also gain a new sense of respect for themselves.

“The most important part of this is it generates a lot of pride and a sense of accomplishment,” Barnett said. “Most of these kids don’t have a lot of success on the outside. If they can take what they’re learning here into the community, it’s great for everybody.”

The program hasn’t cost anything except the time of juvenile corrections officers Dave Negron and Darrell Robinson, both of whom come from military backgrounds.

The 30 or so teenagers were trying to perfect their cadence for today’s graduation.

Their parents and county officials will gather at 11:15 a.m. at the detention center for a ceremony and marching demonstration.

Negron led the kids in an old Army song as they shuffled along - left, right, left.

The words, which Negron chanted and the teens repeated in time with their steps, echoed off the 20-foot-high concrete walls.

Negron: “Oh Lord, I want to go …”

Youths: “Oh Lord, I want to go …”

Negron: “But they won’t let me go …”

Youths: “But they won’t let me go … home.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo