Lost amid last week's allegations of abuse and mistreatment in St. Louis City jails, was a bit of good news about an area correction's program.
On Friday the New York Times published a glowing article on the so-called "Missouri Model" of juvenile justice that stresses rehabilitation in small groups with minimal force and routine therapeutic interventions.
The Times paid particular attention to Missouri Hills, a facility outside St. Louis that features no barbed-wire or other trappings of traditional prisons. Instead, children live in cottage-style dormitories in a wooded setting outside St. Louis.
Under this model, Missouri's juvenile recidivism rate has dropped to one of the lowest in the nation -- declining from 31 percent to 25 percent.
Click here to see a .pdf document with photos comparing Missouri's juvenile centers to those in Illinois. The difference is glaring.
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