Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) All buildings used for purposes of the
operation of a limited secure facility shall comply with all applicable
requirements of Federal, State and local laws, ordinances, rules and
regulations, including but not limited to the Americans with Disabilities Act
and the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
(b) The facility shall have discrete living
units within the facility for the youth residing in the facility.
(1) Each living unit shall house no more than
12 youth.
(2) Each living unit
shall have for the use of youth at least:
(i)
two sinks;
(ii) two
toilets;
(iii) two showers;
and
(iv) ready access to one
washing machine and one dryer, unless the facility uses a central laundry
system.
(3) Each
facility shall have sufficient space to provide offices for assigned clinicians
and staff providing direct services to youth either within the unit or in areas
readily accessible to the unit; and
(4) The interior décor of living units
shall be responsive to the age, cultural backgrounds and gender of the youth
served. Facilities shall create a homelike appearance to the extent reasonably
possible in order to encourage positive youth development.
(c) Bedrooms and bathrooms shall be designed,
constructed and furnished to meet suicide prevention requirements, as follow:
(1) no horizontal surface may protrude from
the wall of another surface more than one-quarter of an inch;
(2) air vents, grills and security screens or
covers of windows or fixtures may not have openings three-sixteenths of an inch
or wider;
(3) protrusions, gaps or
holes that could serve as an anchor point for a loop, knot or ligature are
prohibited;
(4) furniture, fixtures
and other items that could be used as an anchor point for a loop, knot or
ligature are prohibited;
(5) door
knobs and hinges must be suicide resistant; and
(6) faucets, shower heads and water controls
must be suicide resistant.
(d)
(1)
Bedrooms shall be single occupancy unless the use of bedrooms or bedroom areas
for more than one youth are approved by the office. Single occupancy bedrooms
and any multiple occupancy bedrooms or bedroom areas approved by the office
shall meet the following criteria:
(i) there
must be at least 35 square feet of unencumbered floor space for each
youth;
(ii) each youth must have a
bed which is raised off the floor;
(iii) the room must have adequate storage
space for the clothing and personal effects of each youth;
(iv) there must be a desk and a chair or
stool for each youth conveniently located in an area to which youth have free
access; and
(v) the room must have
a window or opening that provides direct or indirect natural light.
(2) The office may approve the use
of bedrooms or bedroom areas for more than one youth if the bedrooms or bedroom
areas will be subject to direct supervision by sufficient awake child care
staff at all times that youth are in bedrooms or bedroom areas to properly
safeguard all youth in the bedroom or bedroom area and the office determines
that the use of bedrooms or bedroom areas for more than one youth will not
adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of the youth in the facility. As
a condition of such approval, the office may require additional measures deemed
necessary by the office to properly safeguard the safety or privacy of the
youth assigned to such bedrooms or bedroom areas.
(e) Dayrooms shall be situated adjacent or in
close proximity to living units and must meet the following criteria:
(1) There must be at least 35 square feet of
unencumbered floor space per youth for the maximum number of youth permitted to
use the dayroom at any one time, exclusive of bathrooms.
(2) The furnishings must be consistent with
the safety needs of the youth permitted to use the dayroom.
(3) There must be sufficient seating space
and writing surfaces to accommodate the needs of the youth and staff.
(4) The room must have a source of direct or
indirect natural light.
(f) The building layout shall provide
adequate space for the following:
(1)
janitorial closets and areas to store cleaning supplies that are readily
accessible to the living and activity areas and are properly secured at all
times to prevent access by the youth;
(2) space for the storage and issuance of
clothing, bedding, and other items necessary for the routine operation of the
facility; and
(3) safe and secure
storage of the personal property of youth where such property cannot be stored
in the youth's bedroom.
(g) There must be access to indoor activity
areas, which include the gymnasium, library, arts and crafts rooms, computer
rooms, other multipurpose rooms used for youth activities and other indoor
leisure areas outside the living units and dayrooms, which must have sufficient
floor space per youth based on the purpose of the area and the maximum number
of youth who could use the area at any one time.
(h) There must be access to indoor and
outdoor recreation facilities and space sufficient to provide each youth with
at least two hours of recreation daily, at least one hour of which must be
large muscle activity.
(i) The
facility must have food service capability, including a kitchen or kitchens
even where food is customarily brought in from outside the facility, and a
dining area or areas which meet the following criteria:
(1) there must be adequate space for safe and
sanitary food preparation based on the number of youth and staff, type of food
preparation, and method of meal service;
(2) there must be adequate space for group
dining; and
(3) toilet and sink
facilities must be available for youth and readily accessible from the dining
area(s) and, for staff, readily accessible from the kitchen and dining
areas.
(j) The facility
must provide space for school classrooms in conformance with any applicable
State and local requirements for classroom size if youth are to be educated at
the facility. Such classrooms must be conducive to the learning
process.
(k) The facility must have
a library or other space with books for the use of the youth which reasonably
meets their educational, developmental, cultural, spiritual and gender
needs.
(l) There must be space for
on-site health services, either in the facility or on the same campus where the
facility is located, that meets the following criteria:
(1) there must be an examination room or
rooms that include the facilities necessary to conduct medical examinations and
that provide for appropriate privacy and confidentiality;
(2) there must be adequate space for any
offices necessary for medical staff;
(3) there must be provision for safe and
secure storage of medications and medical equipment; and
(4) there must be provision for the safe,
secure and confidential storage of any medical records of youth maintained in
hard copy or electronic format. The records must be maintained in the space
used for health services or be conveniently accessible from that
space.
(m) The facility
must have space available that may be used for the following purposes:
(1) confidential contact between youth and
their counsel, and between youth and representatives of the office's
ombudsman's office;
(2) visitation
between the youth and the youth's family, which must be comfortably furnished
and permit easy communication between youth and their families; and
(3) screening and searching youth and
visitors to the facility. There must also be space to securely store the
property of visitors to the facility during their visits.
(n) The facility must have sufficient
internet connectivity and computer availability to enable the facility to
properly support its administrative, professional and managerial functions, and
to properly support the educational and program service needs of
youth.
(o) The facility must have
telephone services sufficient to permit the youth reasonable daily access to
incoming calls and reasonable means to make outgoing calls. The facility will
make available as necessary telecommunications devices for the deaf to those
youth in need of such assistance for making or receiving telephone
calls.
(p) The facility must have a
back-up generator with sufficient capacity to maintain routine operations
during a power outage, located in a safe and appropriate place and accessible
when needed. The facility must have an emergency fuel supply readily available
sufficient to maintain the operation of the back-up generator for at least
three days.
(q) All interior and
exterior doors in the facility must have working mechanical and/or electronic
locks that will provide a level of security appropriate to the facility. All
interior and exterior doors must have a window, view panel or other means of
viewing the space on each side of the door except for bathroom, exam room,
closet and utility room doors.
(r)
The facility must have a reasonable plan for providing adequate and appropriate
food and shelter to the residents in the event of an emergency.
