(1) (a) There is hereby created within the department of human services the division of youth services, referred to within this section as the "division", the head of which is the director of the division. The executive director of the department of human services shall appoint the director of the division pursuant to section 13 of article XII of the state constitution and the laws and rules governing the state personnel system. The director shall exercise powers and perform duties and functions within the office of the executive director of the department of human services in accordance with the provisions of this article 2 and as if transferred thereto by a type 2 transfer as such transfer is defined in the "Administrative Organization Act of 1968", article 1 of title 24.

(b) The purposes of the division are to:

(I) Increase public safety by providing rehabilitative treatment to help youths in the division's care make lasting behavioral changes to prepare themselves for successful transition back to the community;

(II) Promote the physical safety of youths and staff within the division;

(III) Promote a seamless continuum of care from the time of detention or commitment to discharge, in which youths' needs are met in a safe, structured environment with well-trained, caring staff who help youths identify and address their issues, hold youths accountable for their actions, and help youths accept responsibility for their actions;

(IV) Enable youths to develop healthy, supportive relationships with peers, adults, family, and members of their neighborhoods and communities; and

(V) Provide youths with the tools necessary to become law-abiding, contributing members of the community upon their release.

(2) The division may enter into agreements with the judicial department to combine provision of juvenile parole and probation services. Juvenile probation and parole supervision programs implemented pursuant to such agreements may not include provisions for supervision of juveniles sentenced to the department of corrections.

(3) (a) This subsection (3) applies to any individual committed to a juvenile facility and in the custody of the division who is eighteen years of age or older on the date of the next election.

(b) The administrator of a facility in which an individual described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) is committed shall facilitate the voting rights of the individual. In connection with such requirements, the administrator shall provide the individual information regarding his or her voting rights and how the individual may register to vote and cast a mail ballot, provide the individual with voter information materials upon the request of the individual, and ensure that any mail ballot cast by the individual is timely delivered to the designated election official. For purposes of this subsection (3), "administrator" and "voter information materials" have the same meaning as set forth in section 1-2-210.5 (5), C.R.S. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to satisfy the requirements of this paragraph (b), the administrator is exempt from any restriction under law on the number of mail ballots an eligible elector may deliver in person to the designated election official.

(c) The administrator and the secretary of state shall post the type or kind of verification satisfying the requirements of section 1-1-104 (19.5)(d), C.R.S., in a prominent place on the public websites maintained by the department of human services and the secretary, respectively. The secretary shall provide notice to the county clerk and recorders as well as other designated election officials throughout the state that such verification constitutes an acceptable form of identification under section 1-1-104 (19.5), C.R.S., permitting the individuals possessing such identification to register to vote and cast a ballot.

(d) The administrator shall forward applications made under this subsection (3) on a weekly basis, or on a daily basis during the last week allowed for registration prior to any election, to the county clerk and recorder of the county in which the facility is located, and, if the applicant resides in a different county from the facility, the application must then be forwarded to the county clerk and recorder of the county in which the applicant resides.

(4) Pilot program - fund created - repeal. (a) Legislative declaration. The general assembly finds that:

(I) Youths committed to the care of the division deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, using a therapeutic approach delivered in a treatment setting where social-emotional competencies are learned and practiced by youths and staff;

(II) Because many youths committed to the care of the division have experienced trauma, which may include physical and sexual abuse, abandonment, violence in their homes or in their communities, or the loss of a family member at a young age, the experience of a safe, humane, and nurturing environment is necessary for youths to develop coping skills and the ability to trust and form healthy relationships;

(III) Almost all youths committed to the division will return to the community;

(IV) Youths in the division's care need treatment and tools that prepare them to safely rejoin our communities;

(V) The environment in the division should be safe, secure, and nonviolent to promote building trust and healthy relationships between youths and staff and to allow youths to grow and mature responsibly;

(VI) Rates of violence against youths and staff in the division are unacceptably high;

(VII) Improvements can always be made in the division, which strives to have staff and youths engaged with respect and dignity and create an environment that is safe for all;

(VIII) Division staff have an extremely difficult job. They must respond daily to extremely troubled youths, including some who act out with violence. Even with appropriate staff response, some youths will need to be physically restrained.

(IX) Division staff want to help, and not hurt, youths;

(X) Nonetheless, certain restraint practices used in youth corrections, including full-body restraints, the WRAP, solitary confinement, pressure-point or pain-compliance techniques, manipulating nerves, mechanical restraints, and knee strikes to thighs, buttocks, and ribs are physically and psychologically harmful, destructive to relationship building, and inconsistent with the therapeutic, trauma-responsive, and non-violent environment the division is committed to creating;

(XI) Fundamental cultural change is needed at the division in order to provide for the safety of youths and staff and to effectuate real and lasting personal change for the youths in the division's care;

(XII) Division staff need additional tools and training to reduce the use of physical restraints and to promote stronger, healthier relationships with youths; and

(XIII) Transparency and accountability regarding critical incidents, fights, assaults, restraints, and injuries that occur in division facilities are critical components of cultural change.

(b) The division shall implement a pilot program to aid in the establishment of a division-wide therapeutic and rehabilitative culture. The pilot program will test the efficacy of a therapeutic, group-treatment approach and the ability of the division to keep youths and staff safe without the use of seclusion and mechanical restraints other than handcuffs. In administering the pilot program, the division shall:

(I) Provide treatment to at least twenty youths committed to the division's care, divided into groups of no more than twelve. In selecting youths to participate in the pilot program, the division shall ensure that the youths reflect a representative cross section of youths committed to the division's care with respect to age and history of violence.

(II) Give hiring or transfer preference to staff who agree to work as staff in the pilot program;

(III) Create teams of youths and staff by assigning each staff member to a group of youths, to which group the staff member remains assigned throughout the pilot program;

(IV) Require staff assigned to the pilot program to be trained as youth specialists and have or acquire substantial knowledge of rehabilitative treatment, de-escalation, adolescent behavior modification, trauma, safety, and physical management techniques that do not harm youths; assign no staff members to the pilot program solely as security staff; and maintain a ratio of staff to youths that meets or exceeds nationally recognized standards and reflects best practices;

(V) Operate healthy, trauma-responsive organizational environments as demonstrated through prosocial, safe, and non-violent interaction by:

(A) Prioritizing the physical and psychological safety of youths and staff;

(B) Meeting the basic needs of youths, which are food, clothing, shelter, emotional and physical safety, belonging, and family involvement;

(C) Creating a humane environment for youths that is not institutional but is home-like, healthy, and therapeutic;

(D) Holding youths in the least restrictive environment possible;

(E) Emphasizing positive behavioral outcomes with the goal of helping youths to progress from behavioral compliance to internalized change;

(F) Utilizing the small group process as a primary method of providing treatment services, where resolution of core issues and development of social-emotional competency can occur, youth behaviors are viewed as having a cause, and determining the purpose of a behavior is essential to the treatment process;

(G) To the extent possible, ensuring that each youth in the pilot program remains with his or her group and dedicated staff member during waking hours, except for specialized treatment or educational services;

(H) Relying on de-escalation and relationship-building techniques that help staff members avoid physical management and restraint;

(I) Phasing out completely within the first year of the pilot program the use of restraint methods that physically harm youths, including striking youths, using mechanical restraints other than handcuffs, and using pain-compliance or pressure-point techniques;

(J) Prohibiting a youth from participating in the restraint of another youth;

(K) Phasing out completely within the first year of the pilot program the practice of placing youths alone in a room or area behind a locked door from which egress is prevented, except during sleeping hours, and avoiding isolation of youths from their peers;

(L) Integrating trauma-responsive principles and practices into all elements of programming and ensuring that all staff who work with youths are thoroughly trained to provide trauma-responsive care. For the purposes of this section, "trauma-responsive" care means care in which staff are trained to expect the presence of trauma in the youths being served, to recognize how staff response and organizational practices may trigger painful memories and re-traumatize youths with trauma histories, and to resist taking actions or using words that re-traumatize youths.

(M) Providing continuity of services and relationships through a seamless case management system and assignment of a dedicated case manager to each youth, which case manager serves as the primary advocate for the youth and his or her family and works actively with both throughout the pilot program;

(N) Prioritizing family engagement; and

(O) Facilitating community engagement, consistent with principles of restorative justice;

(VI) Contract through a competitive bid process with an independent third party to facilitate, coach, and train staff and leadership throughout the course of the pilot program. The independent third party must have expertise in systemic cultural transformation of a youth correctional system from a punitive, correctional culture to a rehabilitative and therapeutic culture. The independent third party must have experience training staff in providing relationship-based, group-centered, trauma-responsive care and decreasing violence against youths and staff in facilities. The independent third party shall assist with implementation of the pilot program, provide training for staff working in the pilot program, and provide at least one three-quarter-time to full-time consultant to provide on-the-ground mentorship, coaching, and training to pilot-program staff members throughout the pilot program. The consultant shall also provide training to the division's leadership regarding the philosophies and techniques used in the pilot program. For the purposes of this subsection (4)(b)(VI), on or before September 1, 2017, the division shall request proposals from candidates. The division shall require each candidate to submit its proposal to the division on or before November 1, 2017, and the division shall contract with a candidate on or before December 1, 2017. On or before January 1, 2018, the division shall begin working actively with the contracted independent third party to take the necessary steps to commence the pilot program as soon as possible, which must begin to serve youths no later than July 1, 2018.

(VII) (A) Contract through a competitive bid process with an independent contractor other than the independent third party described in subsection (4)(b)(VI) of this section to evaluate the effectiveness and outcome of the pilot program. Prior to the start of the pilot program, the division and the contractor shall work together to identify the data points to be collected throughout the pilot program, which must include, but are not limited to, data concerning fights, assaults on youths, assaults on staff, critical incidents, restraints, mechanical restraints, seclusion, injuries to youths, injuries to staff, criminal charges filed against youths or staff, grievances or complaints regarding abuse that have been filed or sustained, staff absences, staff turnover, and youth educational achievement. The division shall collect the data and make it available to the contractor at the contractor's request throughout the pilot program. For the purposes of this subsection (4)(b)(VII), on or before September 1, 2017, the division shall request proposals from candidates. The division shall require each candidate to submit its proposal to the division on or before November 1, 2017, and the division shall contract with a candidate on or before December 1, 2017. Not later than ninety days after the end of the pilot program, the independent contractor described in this subsection (4)(b)(VII) shall assess the data provided by the division and complete a report evaluating the effectiveness and outcomes of the pilot program when compared to one or more comparable populations of youths in the division. The division shall provide the contractor all available data requested to complete the report.

(B) The independent contractor, at least in part, shall base its evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot program upon whether it reduces the number of fights, critical incidents, assaults on youths, assaults on staff, injuries to youths, and injuries to staff when compared to comparable populations of youths in the division, and whether it reduces the number of physical managements and mechanical restraints when compared to comparable populations of youths in the division.

(C) Not later than ninety days after the end of the pilot program, the independent contractor shall complete the report described in subsection (4)(b)(II)(A) of this section and submit it to the judiciary committees of the house of representatives and the senate, to the public heath care and human services committee of the house of representatives, and to the health and human services committee of the senate, or to any successor committees.

(VIII) Perform the necessary construction and renovation, in consultation with the independent third party described in subsection (4)(b)(VI) of this section, to create youth residences for the pilot program that are home-like and therapeutic, including home-like sleeping quarters and living and group meeting areas.

(c)

(I) The division of youth services pilotprogram cash fund, referred to in this subsection (4) as the "fund", is hereby created in the state treasury. The fund consists of money credited to the fund pursuant to subsection (4)(c)(IV) of this section and any other money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund.

(II) The state treasurer shall credit all interest and income derived from the deposit and investment of money in the fund to the fund. Any unexpended and unencumbered money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year remains in the fund and does not revert to the general fund.

(III) Subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly, the division may expend money from the fund for the purposes described in this subsection (4).

(IV) The division may seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the purposes of this subsection (4). The division shall transmit all money received through gifts, grants, or donations to the state treasurer, who shall credit the money to the fund.

(V) The state treasurer shall transfer all unexpended and unencumbered money in the fund on July 1, 2021, to the general fund.

(d) This subsection (4) is repealed, effective July 1, 2021.

(5) Repealed.

(6) On or before July 1, 2018, and on or before each July 1 thereafter, the department of human services shall collect recidivism data and calculate the recidivism rates and the educational outcomes for juveniles committed to the custody of the department who complete their parole sentences and discharge from department supervision. In collecting the recidivism data, the department shall include any juvenile adjudication or adult conviction of a criminal offense within three years after parole discharge. Notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), the department shall report the recidivism data, recidivism rates, and educational outcomes to the general assembly annually. The report must denote the demographic characteristics of the population considered in the report. In reporting on recidivism rates, the report must denote the types of criminal offenses committed, delineating between felonies and misdemeanors and between crimes that are included as a "crime" pursuant to section 24-4.1-302 (1) and other crimes.