More than half of teenagers in the State's most secure unit for young offenders ended up in adult prison, health board care or were homeless within six months of their release, new figures show.
While 25 of the 57 boys released from Trinity House school in Dublin in 2003 were residing at home, the remainder were in prison (24), health board residential care (3), homeless (2) or back in the secure unit (1). The cost of detaining a young person in the centre is, on average, €362,000.
The figures highlight the lack of aftercare for young people leaving highly structured environments, such as correctional schools or juvenile detention centres, according to experts in the juvenile justice system.
Trinity House is the only secure unit for young offenders which keeps a tracking system of where teenagers go once they are released.
While the outcome figures for teenagers leaving Trinity House are negative, the school's outcome report for 2003 says a closer analysis shows the "positive impact" of the centre's step-down unit. This aims to help young people make the transition from the secure unit to life in the community.
Trinity House points out that of the young people who left the school in 2003, nine were given work-experience placements, five were placed in full-time employment and 15 were placed on various courses.
Three of the former residents were currently still employed when the figures were compiled.
Trinity House said the sourcing of residential health board placements has been positive and has helped prevent more teenagers ending up on the street or in prison. Three such placements were organised in 2003, compared to none the previous year.
While the re-offending rate on leaving the centre was 50 per cent, it said some of the teenagers who picked up new charges did not go to prison because of the direct intervention of the step-down unit.
The unit, according to Trinity House, was able to give accurate reports to the courts about the current situation of young people in trouble with the law and what progress they were making.
It says these figures show the step-down unit has been successful in helping to target services for the teenagers and establish relevant links in the community.
The key barrier for young people leaving Trinity House remains adjusting to life which lacks the structure and rules of the centre, the report adds.
"They find it extremely difficult to adjust to very rigid rules and regulations. Many of the young people have operated consistently, some for a long time, outside the bounds of reasonably acceptable behaviour," the school's outcome report says.
It also says there are concerns over the healthcare needs of people once the leave the centre.
"When the young people leave the school this is an issue for concern. The young people fail to attend important hospital appointments, rehabilitation services for drug use, etc," the report says.
Figures for 2003 show that while all the young people made contact with their family, only 12 (44 per cent) said they had been in contact with their probation officer since leaving and only eight (30 per cent) reported being in contact with their social worker.
Trinity House has recommended that a step-down unit be created in the community, more activity-based programmes for teenagers leaving Trinity House and support for their families.
