Readers are urged to interpret the numbers presented in this fact sheet with caution. No effort has been made to adjust the totals to account for non-responding facilities. While a preliminary examination of non-responding facilities indicates that most hold a small number of youth, there is no solid way to determine the effect that such an undercount would have on the information provided. This distinction is based on security arrangements and access to the community. Open facilities rely on staff to control access to and from the facility and allow youth greater access to the community.
Institutional facilities rely more on construction fixtures to control facility access.
Private facilities are overwhelmingly open. Even among training schools, commonly considered the most restrictive setting, the juveniles were usually held in open environments. Overall, private facilities range in size from 3 to 756 beds. Most private facilities tend to hold only a handful of juveniles, the median capacity being 10 beds. Halfway houses had a median size of 10 beds.