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Even as the state moves to adopt a promising new model for its juvenile justice system, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today to force reforms in the system, which the ACLU says is violent and unsafe.

At an Albuquerque news conference today, lawyers for the ACLU announced they are seeking court intervention to enforce a 20-month-old agreement with the state Children, Youth and Families Department to improve the state's system for juvenile offenders.

Without proper services and treatment, incarcerated youth "end up learning how to be career criminals" in CYFD facilities, said Phil Davis, ACLU's co-legal director.

Even the experts hired by CYFD found "little or no change while we've been waiting for improments," Davis said.

The ACLU claims that medical care, mental health care and education are inadequate, that staff are unprofessional and that incarcerated youths are kept in isolation, where "idleness and harsh conditions harmed the mental condition of many youth."

The ACLU's 33-page lawsuit, filed in state District Court in Santa Fe, says the state's failures to make improvements in the system have subjected incarcerated teens to abuse by staff and other inmates.

The Youth Diagnostic and Development Center in Albuquerque's North Valley was mentioned as a dangerous environment. ACLU staff visit the center frequently to talk to incarcerated teens about their living conditions.

"Over time, the prospect for these youth becoming healthy and productive adults becomes more and more difficult and remote," claims the ACLU.

CYFD Juvenile Justice Facilities Director Debra Pritchard said she wasn't aware of the ACLU's latest criticism of the New Mexico system but said the agency is well aware of the ACLU's concerns.

"They are not happy with the progress we've been making," Pritchard said. "We're not moving fast enough for them, but the timelines in the agreement are unrealistic."

The state's agreement with the ACLU was signed in February 2006 and spelled out proposed improvements in health care, education, rehabilitation, mental health services and living conditions over a four-year period, she said.

On the eve of the ACLU announcement, CYFD officials said they have hired a national expert to help reform the juvenile system to mirror the highly successful "Missouri model," with smaller regional facilities and emphasis on family counseling.

In December 2006, New Mexico had 411 juveniles in nine facilities while Missouri had 1,062 juveniles in 22 facilities. Today, the state has 300 incarcerated youth and 3,000 on probation or parole who also need services, the ACLU says.

"The ACLU wants us to do this," Pritchard said of the Missouri plan.

In about a year, the John Paul Taylor Center near Las Cruces will be converted to the Missouri model under the supervision of consultant Mark Steward, she said.

Steward, the Missouri Youth Services Institute executive director, serves on New Mexico's Juvenile Justice Commission and has a $50,000 contract through March to guide New Mexico's conversion to the model that stresses youth services in smaller facilities near their homes so families can participate in rehabilitation.

Commission Chairman Tom Swisstack said the state's commitment to the Missouri model is a "major, major step" and the best approach the state has ever taken toward reform.

"We've tried so many things on a whim" in the past, he said. "This Missouri plan is a good thing, but it's going to take time."

Swisstack said the commission will issue its report soon that endorses the Missouri model.

While Pritchard acknowledged the ACLU's concerns about the pace of improvements in juvenile justice facilities, she disagreed with its assessment of conditions at the YDDC.

"I think we have made significant improvements at YDDC," she said. "We're not finished, but we've made significant progress."

Among the improvements, she said, is the addition of 17 staff positions, which were made available with the closing of the Boys School at Springer, one of ACLU's requirements under the agreement.