Juvenile Justice Commission

Residential Community Homes

Residential Community Homes

Albert Elias Residential Community Home at Johnstone

Johnstone Campus – Valentine Hall
W. Burlington Street
P. O. Box 479
Bordentown, NJ 08505
Joe Garba – Superintendent
John Davis – Assistant Superintendent 
Phone: 609-324-3610
Fax: 609-384-6349

Albert Elias Residential Community Home is located in Bordentown, NJ  and is part of the Johnstone Campus.  Albert Elias is host to the JJC’s “Work Readiness Program.”  The program serves up to 18 male juveniles ranging in age from 17 and older.  The program accepts residents both on committed and probationary status that have achieved either a high school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma (GED).  Program participants are provided with the basic work and life skills deemed necessary for employment.  Participants develop occupational skills through structured learning opportunities such as work-based experiences, community service, and residential living.  The goal of this specialized program is to enable participants to be successful in the workplace and community upon transitioning home.

Up to twelve participants are employed at the  Department of the Treasury- (Bureau of Special Services) BOSS warehouse facility.  Monday through Friday participants work as furniture restorers and computer technicians, or assist with general warehouse needs, earning an hourly rate and certifications relating to skill acquired in the warehouse setting.  The remaining participants can work and/or attend classes allowing them to continue their education at institutions in the surrounding community and prepare to fill vacant positions at BOSS as they become available.

Costello Prep Residential Community Home

800 Carranza Road
Tabernacle, N.J. 08088
Ilissa Peterson – Superintendent
Darryl Jones Jr. – Assistant Superintendent
Phone: 609-268-1440/268-1424
Fax: 609-268-3079

The Phillip M. Costello Preparatory Academy is located in Tabernacle, New Jersey.

Costello Prep serves residents on both probationary and/or committed status. Costello Prep provides a safe and structured environment, which places an emphasis on substance abuse treatment, education, respect, responsibility, accountability and good-decision making.

While at Costello Prep, residents engage in educational, therapeutic care, community outreach, and recreational activities.

Costello Prep provides clinical services for each resident, which begins with an intake assessment that helps identify areas for support. The development of the juvenile is addressed by a cognitive-behavioral treatment focus, New Freedom, a cognitive-based social learning curriculum delivered within the structure of an adolescent therapeutic community. Each resident also participates in case action planning, which targets goals specific to individual needs. Costello Prep reviews each resident and their plan for progress on a monthly basis. Residents of Costello Prep also participate in individual and group counseling which supports good decision-making.

The residents of Costello Prep are also active members of the community and regularly participate in outreach and recreational activities. Outreach activities are orchestrated through the Restorative Justice Unit within the Juvenile Justice Commission. Residents are also able to earn the opportunity to participate in constructive recreational activities. All recreational activities are designed with purpose and promote healthy interaction.

D.O.V.E.S. Residential Community Home

188 Lindbergh Road
Hopewell, NJ 085252

Rhonda Taylor – Administrator in Charge
Phone: 609-466-1685
Fax:   609-466-4612

D.O.V.E.S. is the sole community-based program providing the necessary services and support to all adjudicated juvenile females requiring residential and secure residential placement in New Jersey. Located in Hopewell, NJ the facility is a New Jersey Register of Historic Places. This program encompasses over 600 acres and was the site of the infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Residents are acquainted with the history of this aviation pioneer known as the father of the Trans-Atlantic flights and provide tours as requested by the public. This property, also known as “Highfields,” was once the home of the famous Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. D.O.V.E.S hosts a maximum of 16 residents with 2 relapse beds. The relapse beds are specifically for those who have previously completed the program.

The Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) utilizes gender specific programming that is designed to meet the unique needs of female residents. An initial assessment identifies the appropriate level within the JJC’s continuum of care for each resident. Reassessments throughout their program stay help ensure that needs continue to be met appropriately. Residents participate in individual and group counseling, a full academic program, vocational training, recreational activities and pro-social opportunities.

The program provides comprehensive individualized care through a treatment team approach that addresses behavioral, substance abuse and developmental issues. Well-being and healthy living are promoted in a safe and clean environment. An incentive program stresses and recognizes educational gains, pro-social behavior and independence. Each resident is supported physically, emotionally and mentally through clinical services. The spiritual needs of the residents are addressed on an individual basis. The program strives to empower each young woman to become a self-reliant, confident, and well-rounded individual.

Northern Region Independence & Re-Entry Success Center

461-63 Central Avenue
Newark, NJ 07107
Nikisha Sanders-McCallister – Superintendent

973-648-7078/973-648-7082
973-648-6133-(Fax)

The Northern Region Independence and Re-entry Success Center is the JJC’s first program that houses transitional residents only.

The Success Center can accommodate up to 25 males who have been paroled or completed a Community Program as a Probationer and that live in all counties north of Middlesex (including Middlesex). Parolees attend as a condition of their parole, and probationers attend when they have completed a community program and have been granted a release date.
Each young person receives a myriad of services that are best suited to meet his release plan, to include, career exploration, health/ wellness, life skills, family reunification or independent living. Family visits are encouraged and residents are permitted to visit their homes, schools and work sites in accordance with program policies and the JJC’s Preparation for Independence program while residing at the Success Center.

A resident’s stay at the Success Center can range from two weeks to 45 days. Program completion is determined by each resident’s behavior, their individual completion of transitional goals, and the recommendation of the Success Center transitional team.

The program offers a variety of services that enable young people to be more successful upon their release. There are seven content areas that must be addressed before release. While many items may seem simple, they have a significant impact on a young person’s long term success.

Identification Credentials

Official identification credentials are often required to obtain a job, lease an apartment, or apply for post -secondary education. Residents receive assistance in obtaining their voter registration cards, copies of their birth certificates or naturalization cards, social security cards, or Motor Vehicle Identification documents. The requirement to register for the Selective Service is also fulfilled at this time.

Career/Technical education

Participants leaving the Success Center must be enrolled in high school or have obtained their high school diploma or GED. Those eligible must be enrolled in a secondary/post- secondary educational program, vocational certificate program, or have identified employment. Assistance is provided to help students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Career Exploration/Job Readiness

This component ensures that residents have an updated resume, have completed online job applications, and have attended career counseling. Sessions include topics such as the job interview process, dressing for success, and choosing the correct career path or job.

Therapeutic

Understanding the struggles that face young people when they return home, the therapeutic component of the program requires participants to participate in a family reunification meeting and substance abuse education classes based on their individual need. In addition, mental health counseling is available based on a clinical assessment.

Life Skills

This component allows participants to learn the basics of banking and budgeting. It also includes sex education courses and parenting classes if appropriate.

Preparation for Independent Living

For those young people who leave the JJC to an independent living situation, assistance is provided in apartment hunting, budgeting living expenses, and tasks such as grocery shopping.

Road to Home

This final component serves as a check and balance to ensure that each young person is prepared to return home. Prior to release each resident will have a physical exam, which includes any necessary immunizations and a health and wellness session. Assistance will also be provided to obtain health insurance. Lastly, each resident engages in a community service activities.

Ocean Residential Community Home

1 Game Farm Road
Forked River, NJ
Christopher Jones, Assistant Superintendent

Phone: 609-693-5498
Fax: 609-6931854

The youth placed at Ocean Residential Community Home develop effective pro-social coping skills in preparation for their re-entry back into their community.

Ocean Residential Community Home utilizes an integrated model of treatment using the New Freedom curriculum and the Phoenix curriculum as part of the treatment experience.

Educational, career and technical programs are integral components to the treatment experience. Diversified career and technical programs are also available to students.

Community service and involvement is also an important aspect of the program. Residents are encouraged to give back to the community by volunteering at the local food bank and donating time to local church organizations.

Ocean Residential Community Home works cooperatively with local academic institutions, the judiciary, the Division of Motor Vehicles as well as other agencies to improve re-entry back into their communities.

Pinelands Residential Community Home

3016 Route 563
Chatsworth, NJ 08019
Chris DiDato – Administrator in Charge
609-518-3080
609-726-9678 (Fax)

Pinelands Residential Community Home was established in 1981 as a result of a cooperative effort between the Department of Corrections and the Department of Youth and Family Services to provide residential treatment for juveniles with special needs. In 1986, Pinelands began to specialize in the treatment of juveniles with sex offenses. Pinelands is located on the border of Atlantic County and Burlington County in Chatsworth, NJ.

The program is committed to the treatment and education of this special population by trained staff who are aware of the specific needs of these juveniles. An emphasis is placed on accepting responsibility for one’s actions, developing a true sense of empathy for victims, and relapse prevention.

Pinelands Residential Community Home provides residential treatment for 18 adolescent male sex offenders. The residents are between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time of entry to the program. Juveniles placed in the Pinelands Program are on a 3-year term of probation – a minimum of 18 months for the residential phase of their treatment followed by 18 months of court-ordered aftercare supervision or as a result of a classification assignment from the New Jersey Training School.

The safety of residents and the community is a priority. Each juvenile’s history and behavior are thoroughly examined during the classification process before he is accepted to this program.

Licensed clinicians and a contracted psychologist and psychiatrist provide therapeutic services. Psycho-education groups supplement the treatment component in addition to life skills, personal development, gang awareness (Phoenix) and healthy sexuality groups.

The program is augmented by service to the community through the Rescue Mission, Atlantic City Boys and Girls Club and the local food bank.

The program offers continuing education credits as well as SAT preparation and on-line college courses. A career and technical component provides horticulture, building maintenance and graphic arts training.

Aftercare planning and implementation is a cooperative effort between the program, Human Services agencies and Probation. An aftercare plan is developed based on the residents preparedness to return to the community.

Southern Residential Community Home

800A Buffalo Avenue
Egg Harbor City, NJ 08215
Lawrence Gleason – Superintendent
Roel Alexander – Assistant Superintendent
Phone: 609-965-5200
Fax: 609-)965-2640

Southern RCH (Southern) is a statewide resource for juvenile residents committed to the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC), that through the classification process just miss the mark of scoring for a residential program but have demonstrated behavior that does not necessitate placement at the New Jersey Training School (NJTS). The program is in Atlantic County, located in Egg Harbor City. Southern is a 24-bed facility, offering treatment services, and a step down from secure care for residents targeted for community reintegration. The program is 60 days in length. A resident must remain charge free and demonstrate progress within the program to be reclassified for “community program” status. Southern is a program designed to instill values, morals, ethics, norms, and to provide self-discipline to adjudicated residents.

All Southern residents receive necessary identified education within the facility. The educational program follows the Core Curriculum Content Standards of the NJ Department of Education. Students that qualify are afforded the opportunity to earn their GED. Residents that have obtained their high school diploma or equivalency may be eligible to further their education through our Graduate Program, which includes secondary education and vocational opportunities.

As an admission requirement, each resident goes through a Comprehensive Intake Assessment (CIA). This assessment guides the development of and serves as the foundation for an individualized Case Action Plan (CAP). The CAP is based upon needs identified during the CIA.

The mission of Southern is to provide residents committed to the JJC with a step down structured residential environment, designed to mitigate risk for re-offending and offer opportunities for reformation within a safe environment. It is Southern’s intention to support residents in making the necessary changes in life to become productive, well-adjusted, and focused members of the community. To achieve this task, residents are offered guidance in developing and achieving program goals.

The goal is to empower residents to effectively deal with the pressures of society with the hope that they will choose to live law abiding, productive lives. This is accomplished with a blend of competent leadership, qualified staff, and incorporation of various treatment interventions.

Individual case plan needs are addressed through a variety of disciplines that target risk factors. Residents are afforded therapeutic services based on individual risk, need and responsivity principles. The continuum of services to residents include vocational training, education, treatment services, cognitive behavioral therapy/skill building, alcohol and drug treatment incorporating motivational enhancement and cognitive behavioral therapy, individual therapy, cultural diversity/gang awareness, and community reintegration/independent living class, education services, and life experience.

Southern is the final progressive step prior to a community-based program. As such, the program offers incentives that will promote pro-social interaction and interpersonal skill development. Since residents are expected to transition to a community program within 60 days of arriving to the facility, there is a certain expectation that they conduct themselves within program expectations and norms. Consequences are aimed to be consistently applied for program infractions. They are immediate and short in duration to provide incentive for residents to re-engage in programming.

Every resident in the program is exposed to a continuum of services that directly addresses their risk needs. The intent is to draw a direct correlation between one’s own situation, thoughts, feelings, actions and consequences to better promote self-awareness to correct risky behavior. This model is incorporated into daily living activities. Current approaches include utilizing the A.R.T. Curriculum, Phoenix, New Freedom, and individual substance abuse treatment.

The daily structure, paired with staff competence, incorporates problem-solving, coping, and social skills to enhance or encourage pro-social behaviors through actively mentoring and encouraging residents to function as a community. This accountability model promotes identifying and altering prominent cognitive distortions.

Vineland Preparatory Academy

2000 Maple Avenue
Vineland NJ 08361
Clinton Tilden – Superintendent
Mark Mutcherson – Assistant Superintendent

Phone: (856) 696-6624
Fax: (856) 696-6658

The program is designed to promote emotional intelligence, reframe self-destructive belief systems, develop coping skills and create self-efficacy. The program offers a cognitive behavior, social learning curriculum (New Freedom) to work on the various issues that led to their incarceration.

The program’s career/technology educational component includes; a Computer Lab, Culinary Arts, Career Education and Horticultural/Landscaping. It operates greenhouses that grow seasonal crops and ornamental harvests. Flowers and ornamental trees are distributed as part of their community service to the City of Vineland, Cumberland County, local hospitals and to the Office of the Attorney General.

Vineland Prep Academy provides a safe atmosphere for youth to learn and grow through education, job readiness, spiritual development and substance abuse treatment. The program implements a schedule of community activities that offer healthy experiences.

Voorhees Residential Community Home

201 Route 513
Glen Gardner, NJ 08826
Michael Coyle, Superintendent
Michael Handy, Supervisor, Juvenile Unit
Phone: 908-638-4625/609-638-4677
Fax: 908-638-4670

The program strives to promote pro-social skills, educational and vocational achievement, and personal growth by instilling core values of help, trust, respect, responsibility, and intervention. Our purpose in doing so is to help the residents prepare for their return to their communities and in fulfilling the goals they have set for themselves while in program.

In addition to classroom studies, residents are provided with vocational opportunities, which include greenhouse management, landscaping, plumbing, carpentry, and masonry.

During their stay, residents participate in Aggression Replacement Training, New Freedom Release Group, and Phoenix Curricula. These courses utilize cognitive behavioral techniques and assists residents with enhancing self-control. Furthermore, these components collectively assist with the development of interpersonal, personal, and social-cognitive skills that constitute effective pro-social behavior.

Residents regularly participate in community service projects conducted at Voorhees, Spruce Run, and Hacklebarney State Parks. In memory of the lives lost in 09/11, residents assisted with the development of the Cudina Memorial in Lebanon Township and continue to maintain the grounds through the horticulture program. The residents also have a number of opportunities to volunteer performing community service.

Warren Residential Community Home

509 Brass Castle Road
Oxford, NJ 07863
Steve Redmond, Superintendent
Jeffrey Morgan, Assistant Administrator in Charge
Phone: 908-453-2032
Fax: 908-453-4234

Warren Residential Community Home (RCH) was established in 1960 as a home for at-risk youth and has been in operation for that purpose to the present day.

It is the mission of the Warren RCH to create a safe, caring and supportive environment that provides all students with the opportunity to achieve personal and academic growth, and to become productive members of the community.

Residents receive educational and vocational services, individual and group substance abuse counseling, Phoenix gang intervention, character building, job readiness/life skills classes, coping skills, and Aggression Replacement Training, which encompasses moral reasoning and pro-social skill training and anger control techniques. In addition, residents are eligible for family counseling, parenting/fatherhood groups, the Preparation for Independence program, employment and the Supportive Work Program, as well as online college courses.

Warren RCH residents regularly participate in community service activities in the local community. Residents currently volunteer their time with Common Sense for Animals (animal shelter), Turn a Frown Around at Brakley Nursing Home and community cleanup projects. Aftercare services are provided through Juvenile Parole and Transition in conjunction with the Warren CAP Team.

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