The purpose of this study is to suggest a model of an operating system and education programs for private juvenile residential facilities in a way that improves on the state-run facilities by providing various programs for protected juveniles. We conducted literature reviews, in-depth interviews, and workshops in order to identify main issues and problems regarding the operation of correctional facilities and to draw implications for future improvements.
This study suggested that a private juvenile residential facility should accommodate juveniles with mental difficulties and made a set of suggestions with regard to its operation and education programs. First, the accommodation capacity of the facility should be limited at 50 individuals and provide each resident with a separate room. Also, the selection process for residents should take into consideration the extent of mental difficulties. Second, the facility needs to make full use of private resources following the model of private correctional institutions, where consideration should be given to volunteers' qualifications and a systematic curriculum should be prepared to help volunteers understand the residents.
Based on discussions regarding private correctional institutions, a set of implications can be drawn in terms of performance management. First, in designing the performance management system for the private juvenile residential facility, the performance indicators should not be centered around economic considerations such as ‘profitability’. Second, it is necessary to specify in contracts the conditions under which the government can cover the loss on the part of the service provider. Third, in designing performance indicators and performance uation, the government should treat the service provider as its equal partner, rather than imposing one-sided regulations based only on performance outcomes.
Fourth, as the performance outcomes are hard to be clearly defined for the juvenile protection facility, the results of the performance uation should be utilized as feedback for the purposes of recommendation and advice, rather than using the performance uations as a means to impose penalties on the service provider. Fifth, the performance uations should be used as a reference and a 'post-audit' needs to be strictly performed to ensure public accountability while the service provider can be allowed to exercise autonomy as much as possible in terms of budget and personnel.
In terms of education programs in a private juvenile residential facility, a service provider needs to be granted more autonomy in such a way that each resident can opt to complete specific education or vocation training programs in conjunction with mental health programs, or to change the plans based on discussions with his or her guardians.