The Detention Alternatives for Youth, or DAY, program enrolled 26 low-risk juvenile offenders in the first four months, with only one failing the program and another who's missing and wanted on a bench warrant, Nye County Chief Juvenile Probation Office Tom Metscher said.

The DAY program was started Sept. 4, 2007, as a detention alternative for low- and medium-risk male juveniles. It's an alternative to transporting them 560 miles round trip to the Don Goforth Juvenile Resource center in Hawthorne, the center nearest to Pahrump.

Youths are enrolled in the program for 30 program days or six weeks.

Metscher said 15 of the 26 youths already completed the program during that four-month period from September through December 2007. Nine are still enrolled, and if they complete the program it would represent a 92 percent success rate.

That doesn't mean all the youths in the program have been angels.

Metscher said 579 of the 604 program days by attendees can be classified as positive. Some participants received sanctions for bad behavior, one youth was ordered to a week in detention while three others received extended program time.

Among the 15 who completed the DAY program so far, three have been arrested or committed a probation violation, a recidivism rate of 20 percent.

Metscher said the DAY program permits the youths to continue their education while in the program.

Youths assigned to detention facilities attend school four hours per day, but Metscher said they don't complete assignments accepted by Pahrump schools. That can lead to falling behind in class, which is rarely made up by the offender.

The DAY program also provides counseling programs.

"Although the program is in its infancy, juvenile probation department believes that the DAY program is exceeding expectations for the target population," the report states.

The number of referrals of Pahrump juveniles to the juvenile detention system peaked at 693 in the 2005-2006 fiscal year ending June 30, 2006. That resulted in 4,231 detention days. Those numbers declined to 661 referrals and 3,542 detention days in fiscal year 2006-2007.

Metscher said the DAY program reduced the number of referrals to the juvenile detention system from 214 in fall 2006 to 168 in fall 2007. The number of detention days fell by 53 percent, he said.

Many of the youths are in the DAY program on a pre-trial order from the court. "That's a great motivator for them to comply with the program," Metscher told Nye County commissioners recently.

The program is regimented throughout the day, with regular school instruction followed by tutoring, behavior modification and some recreation time at the Boys and Girls Club of Pahrump Valley.

An anger management program is held every Friday, with help from No To Abuse. Metscher said that's been very encouraging.

"I look at the kids when I worked at the high school. I saw a real issue with kids who were going to detention, coming back to the school setting after being in that kind of environment. They're behind in school, they have no hopes. These are the kinds of kids I saw that were truant, acting out with teachers, getting in fights," said DAY Program Director Raymond Saltzman.

He told Commissioner Joni Eastley, "The bottom line, ma'am, is we're turning back out to this community better-behaved children, kids who are more respectful of their community, have more pride in their community."

The success rates can translate into some financial savings as well, Metscher's report states.

The cost of housing a youthful offender at the Hawthorne facility costs $95 a day, not including the $16 per hour to transport them to Hawthorne plus vehicle expenses.

Metscher estimates the monthly cost of housing juveniles in detention facilities dropped from an average of $47,013 in the fall of 2005 and 2006, to $28,600 last fall, for a 39 percent reduction.

If that percentage reduction continues for a one-year period, Metscher said the county would save $221,000.

The DAY program costs about $6,500 per month, or $335 per day. That includes a salary for DAY program coordinator; a contract to WestCare Nevada Inc. for tutoring and behavior modification; the cost of school district meals; and the facility use fees and memberships for the Boys and Girls Club of Pahrump.

Commissioners inquired about the ability to recoup costs of the program through court orders by the judge.

"When we have detention costs we do try to collect for what we can before a court order is imposed on the parents. What you're eligible to collect and what you do collect are two completely different things," Metscher said. But he added, "Even including all the costs of the DAY program, I think we can easily see there's been a tremendous cost savings to the county."

In a related item, county commissioners last month entered into a one-year lease agreement with Secure Alert Inc., to purchase electronic monitoring equipment for juvenile offenders.