On 3/6/19, the Kearney Hub published a Hub opinion piece on YRTC and the public’s proposal to build a fence around YRTC and to make it a felony to assault a YRTC staff member. If you haven’t read it already, please take a moment to read it here.

Now, the core issue being argued here is that the public needs to support these two bills or they will stall. While that may or may not be true, I am more concerned with the two underlying issues here. To me, it makes sense to make an assault on a YRTC staff member a felony. That makes perfect sense. However, I do not believe there should be a wall around YRTC.

Many people seem to misunderstand what YRTC is. YRTC is not a prison or a jail. It is a treatment center for children who have broken the law. They are sent there to learn how to exist outside that treatment center. Many other treatment centers do not have fences around them for this same reason. Richard Young doesn’t have a fence around it! If you put a person in a cage, they learn to live in a cage. If you put a person in a freer environment, they will learn to exist in a freer environment.

YRTC revolves around a multi – step program that starts out very strict and confining, but gradually grants more freedom. If a child is not ready for more privileges, he is held back until he can earn those privileges. They can earn MP3 players, treats, and other incentives to keep their spirits up and encourage their progress. They earn their freedom back. However, not everyone earns it.

When I toured YRTC, one of the first things I saw was a boy being lead to a police car in handcuffs. He was not a captured escapee, he was a young man who could not follow the rules enough to earn his freedom. One of our tour guides said that boy was turning 19 the next day and was being transported to a facility where they would decide which prison to send him to. The YRTC staff has a policy in place for those who cannot comply with their rules. However, most boys do comply with the rules.

Our tour guides were four boys who were living at YRTC. One stood out to me in particular. He, like many, was a child who had experienced some hard things and he made some bad decisions. He deserved to be there. However, he was less than a week away from going home. This boy was well-spoken, incredibly respectful, and encouraging. During the tour, we learned that this 15-year-old child had a child of his own and had taken a class at YRTC on how to be a good father. His reward for completing the class was the opportunity to record himself reading a story to his baby that would then be sent to his child. Looking at this boy, I saw a person who was given a second chance and took it. I also saw someone who wasn’t going to waste this opportunity by trying to escape.

During the tour, we met so many other boys who saw YRTC as a second chance. They didn’t see it as something so horrible that they wanted to escape it. Now, they all said they hated it at first and definitely wanted to go home, but none of the boys we met had tried anything drastic to leave. They saw completing the program and following the rules as a way of escape.

I understand that people are concerned for their own safety with YRTC being in Kearney. Of course people get scared when they hear of an escape. However, there are so many children who go through YRTC and don’t try to escape. Building a fence would do more harm to those boys than it would help anything. Plus, if someone is that set on escaping, he can figure out a way to do it. Security should be increased at YRTC, but it should be done internally. I encourage you all to support the bill that would make assaulting a YRTC staff member a felony. However, please do not support the one that would build a fence around the treatment center, turning it into a prison.

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