Reported by: Tom McKee
Juveniles are committing serious offenses these days and many reoffend after serving their sentences.
However, there's a unique program nestled in the hills of Ross County that helps teen offenders rehabilitate themselves.
It's called Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek and has operated 21-years near Bainbridge, Ohio.
Paint Creek has helped over 1,300 teens who have committed serious crimes such as rape, robbery and drug offenses.
Boys charged with murder are in traditional correction facilities.
Because these teens are juveniles, we can't show you their faces, but we can say Paint Creek works and it's a last chance for many of them before adult prison.
Paint Creek looks like a regular boarding school.
The boys or "peers" attend classes four-hours a day.
They get plenty of outdoor exercise.
Meals are eaten together in a cafeteria.
The big difference is these teens are convicted criminals.
"Jack" – not his real name – is from Westwood.
"My offense was rape," said Jack. "My victims were two younger kids."
There's "Andrew" from Dayton, Ohio – again, an assumed name.
"I had a gross sexual imposition charge against one of my, against my half-sister," said Andrew.
Life at Paint Creek is totally structured, but without bars or fences.
Peers march to and from dorms, classes and meals.
They keep journals of their thoughts.
Daily counseling forces them to confront their past and their victims.
Renee Hagen is Paint Creek's program director.
"If they don't make the change, they're going to be spending a lot of time in prison or dead," said Hagen. "The type of lifestyles they're living are pretty risky."
"Andrew" said he was self-centered and egotistical when he came to the program.
"I felt that I could, you know, con the staff members and show them what a good person looks like and I could just leave and go home in six months," said Andrew. "But, it did not turn out that way."
"Jack" had been in a traditional correctional setting and says he came to Paint Creek with a chip on his shoulder.
"I really didn't want to change," said Jack. "It was like the whole process of fighting with myself – wanting to change – and not wanting to change."
Slowly, but surely, the tight-knit staff changes the boys' outlooks.
"Somewhere along the line they begin to feel like, 'Wow, this might just be the real thing and maybe I can make a difference,'" said Hagen.
Lighthouse president Bob Mecum says a look at the statistics shows that the program works.
"The recitivism rate at Paint Creek is about five-percent after they've been out one year," said Mecum. "Eleven-percent after two years, and only 16% after they've been gone three years."
"Overall, the statewide average is about 33% recitivism after one year and over 50% after three years," said Mecum.
"Andrew's" new goal is becoming a corporate attorney and says Paint Creek has given him the tools not to reoffend.
"If I continue where I am now, that will not happen because I refuse to end up in that position again – hurting someone else," said Andrew.
"Jack" has accepted responsibility for his crime, says he's a changed man and wants to become a computer engineer.
"It's going to be tough, but it's going to be as tough as I make it because if I'm willing to give in to that temptation, if i'm willing to give into that negativity, then how hard was I trying to change what I was doing," said Jack.
Mecum says he's proud of the Paint Creek model because of its two decades of success.
"The bottom line is, are we being effective? There's no question after 20-years, 21-years of outside evaluations, this is one of the most, if not the most effective juvenile correctional facilities in the United States of America," said Mecum, Lighthouse Youth Services president.
Why are the recitivism rates so low?
The answers to those questions come Thursday in Part 2 of this special 9News report.
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