Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 31 - Public Safety › Part 9 - REGULATION REGARDING THE LICENSURE OF JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITIES › Chapter 2 - Classification, Assessment, Healthcare And Data › Rule 31-9-2.2 - Admission/Intake

Current through June 25, 2024
1. Written admission policies and procedures
				of the facility shall be approved by the Unit in accordance with goals and
				purposes of the facility and Mississippi statutes.
2. Youth are processed into the facility in a
				timely manner. Intake for the juvenile justice system is available either
				on-site or through on-call arrangements twenty-four hours a day, seven days a
				week.
3. A youth court judge has
				the authority to release or conditionally release youth. Intake staff have the
				authority to release a youth upon notification to the youth court judge.
4. Intake staff use a race and
				gender-neutral Risk Assessment Instrument (RAI) to determine the appropriate
				pre-dispositional placement or status necessary to accomplish the purposes of
				detention (ensuring appearance in court and preventing re-offending). Youth
				eligible for detention are placed in the least restrictive alternative needed
				to accomplish those purposes (e.g., a non-secure setting, home supervision,
				and/or home electronic monitoring).
5. For youth with limited English
				proficiency, staff make arrangements for intake to be conducted in the youth's
				native language in a timely manner.
6. The facility assesses the frequency with
				which it has contact with individuals with limited English proficiency from
				different language groups.
7. The
				facility establishes a process and informs families and guardians about the
				ways in which they can communicate with the facility about their children.
8. The facility follows a process
				for providing orientation to parents, guardians and caregivers within seven
				days of a youth's admission to the facility.
9. Parents and guardians receive orientation
				materials in the primary language spoken in the household, or the facility
				makes other accommodations to ensure that parents and guardians with limited
				English proficiency understand how the facility operates.
10. The facility does not charge for
				interpretation services.
11. When
				communicating with parents or guardians of detained youth, staff do not rely on
				youth to serve as interpreters in non-emergency situations.
12. During the intake process, youth receive
				information explaining, in an age-appropriate fashion, the agency's zero
				tolerance policy regarding sexual abuse and sexual harassment and how to report
				incidents or suspicions of sexual abuse or sexual harassment.
13. Within 10 days of admission, the facility
				provides and documents comprehensive age-appropriate education to youth either
				in person or through video regarding their rights to be free from sexual abuse
				and sexual harassment and to be free from retaliation for reporting such
				incidents, and regarding agency policies and procedures for responding to such
				incidents.
14. Admission procedures
				and practice shall include but not be limited to:
a. Collecting identifying information.
b. Verifying the legal authority
				to detain.
c. Completion of a
				health assessment. A description of bruises, abrasions, symptoms of illness and
				current medications shall be documented.
d. Assessing the juvenile's suicide risk
				potential.
e. Documenting the
				notification of the juvenile's parents or legal guardian and legal custodian,
				if not the parent or legal guardian.
f. Assisting the juvenile in contacting the
				juvenile's family at the time of admission.
g. Conducting an intake interview. Designated
				staff members shall conduct each intake interview.
h. Providing an orientation to the facility
				in a manner which is understandable to the juvenile. Completion of the
				orientation and receipt of all written orientation materials shall be
				documented by a signed statement from the juvenile.
i. Notifying the appropriate intake officer.
j. Searching the juvenile and the
				juvenile's possessions.
k.
				Documenting the juvenile's clothing and personal possessions and disposition. A
				written inventory of all money and personal property of the juvenile shall be
				signed by the juvenile and the admitting staff member and kept with the
				juvenile's record. If the juvenile refuses to sign the inventory, the refusal
				shall be documented in the juvenile's record.
l. Distributing personal hygiene items.
m. Providing for a shower and hair
				care.
n. Issuing clean, laundered
				clothing, if necessary.
o.
				Assigning the juvenile to a sleeping room.