{{Short description|Private youth detention centre}} {{Use Canadian English|date=March 2020}}{{Infobox prison | name = Project Turnaround | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | image_map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_label = | map_dot_mark = | location = Hillsdale, Ontario, Canada | coordinates = {{coord|44.6297|N|79.7232|W|display=it}} | status = Closed | classification = | capacity = 32 | opened = {{start date|1997|07|31}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Project Turnaround: Boot Camp for Young Offenders |url=http://www.corrections.mcs.gov.on.ca:80/english/cservices/young_pt.html |website=Ministry of Correctional Services |publisher=Queen's Printer for Ontario |access-date=January 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021226085906/http://www.corrections.mcs.gov.on.ca:80/english/cservices/young_pt.html |archive-date=December 26, 2002 |date=July 3, 2001}}</ref> | closed = {{end date|2004|01|31}}<ref name="Turnaround's end"/> | former_name = | managed_by = Encourage Youth Corporation | prisoners = | embedded = }}
'''Project Turnaround''' was a private youth detention centre for male young offenders between 16 and 18 years of age that operated from 1997 to 2004 in Hillsdale, Ontario, Canada. The facility held up to 32 high-risk youths at a time who were serving sentences for crimes such as assault, robbery, forcible confinement, escape, and weapons charges.<ref name="not just another boot camp">{{cite journal |last1=Wormith |first1=Stephen |last2=Wright |first2=Jeffrey |last3=Sauve |first3=Isabelle |last4=Fleury |first4=Paul |title=Ontario's strict discipline facility is not just another 'boot camp' |journal=Forum on Corrections Research |date=1999 |volume=11 |issue=2 |url=https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/forum/e112/e112h-eng.shtml |accessdate=March 30, 2020 |publisher=Correctional Service of Canada|issn=0847-0464}}</ref> Youth serving sentences for crimes such as murder, arson, and sexual assault were not eligible for admission to Project Turnaround. The program had an annual budget of {{CAD|2.3}} million.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Oh |first1=Susan |date=April 5, 1999 |title=Project Turnaround: An Ontario program puts young offenders through boot camp |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A54254559/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=531215d0 |magazine=Maclean's |access-date= January 16, 2022 |via= Gale OneFile}}</ref>
==History== Project Turnaround operated on a boot camp approach, part of a tough on crime response to increasing youth incarceration rates by the government of Premier Mike Harris.<ref name="tough on kids">{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Ross G. |last2=Healy |first2=Kearney F. |title=Tough on Kids: Rethinking Approaches to Youth Justice |date=2003 |publisher=Purich Publishing |location=Saskatoon |pages=135–152 |chapter=Crime and Punishment: Getting tough on youth crime|oclc=854620476}}</ref><ref name="capitalist punishment">{{cite book |last1=Hecht|first1=Mark Erich |last2=Habsha|first2=Donna|editor1-last=Coyle |editor1-first=Andrew |editor2-last=Campbell |editor2-first=Alison |editor3-last=Neufeld |editor3-first=Rodney |title=Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization and Human Rights |date=2003 |publisher=Zed Books |location=London |isbn=1842772910 |chapter=International law and the privatization of juvenile justice }}</ref> Solicitor General Bob Runciman stated that Project Turnaround was "about getting people up at six o'clock in the morning [and] reducing the kind of privileges [young offenders] have currently across the system."<ref name="people get the message">{{cite journal |last1=Hogeveen |first1=Bryan R. |title='If we are tough on crime, if we punish crime, then people get the message': Constructing and governing the punishable young offender in Canada during the late 1990s |journal=Punishment & Society |date=2005 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=73–89 |doi=10.1177/1462474505048134|s2cid=145372963 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Abraham |first1=Carolyn |title=All young offender facilities to become boot camps |work=The Hamilton Spectator |date=April 4, 1997 |pages=C4}}</ref> Harris' campaign in the 1995 provincial election explicitly used the term "boot camps" to refer to plans for strict youth detention facilities,<ref name="is it working" /> but the provincial government and Encourage Youth Corporation both later objected to that label being applied to Project Turnaround.<ref name="not just another boot camp" />
Youth held in the facility were subjected to high-intensity daily activities that lasted approximately 16 hours under a program of military-style discipline.<ref name="not just another boot camp" /> The program—designed to be "more than a boot camp" according to Project Turnaround owner Sally Walker in a 2003 interview— was meant to instill respect and accountability, build productive skills, and offer educational and vocational programming to those who were predicted to re-offend.<ref name="is it working">{{cite news|url=http://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/3599594-project-turnaround-is-it-working-for-young-offenders-/ |title=Project Turnaround: is it working for young offenders? |accessdate=March 30, 2020 |work=Huntsville Forester |publisher=Metroland Media Group |date=January 2, 2003 |language=en-CA|agency=Torstar News Service}}</ref> The provincial government touted the program as a success, reporting that the rate of recidivism among youth who had been through Project Turnaround was 33 percent compared to 50 percent at public youth centres, and Public Security Minister Bob Runciman announced a plan in 2003 to expand the strict-discipline youth detention model across the province.<ref name="is it working" /> Other researchers, such as University of Toronto criminologist Anthony Doob, stated those claims were not shown by the government's own data and that youths passing through Project Turnaround were not any less likely to re-offend.<ref name="is it working" /><ref name="capitalist punishment" />
In February 2003 the establishment had a mould outbreak requiring temporary transfer of 24 offenders to other provincial institutions.<ref>{{cite news |title=Canada in brief: Mould forces Ontario to shut youth boot camp |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A30079206/STND?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=4350cee8|via=Gale OneFile|access-date=January 16, 2022 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=February 7, 2003}}</ref> Following the change of government in the 2003 provincial election, new Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Monte Kwinter announced that the contract for Project Turnaround would not be renewed. Kwinter cited the high cost and small population of the program as the reason for the decision and stated that youth correctional services would be better provided through government-run programs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Project Turnaround to close in New Year |url=https://news.ontario.ca/archive/en/2003/11/26/Project-Turnaround-to-close-in-New-Year.html |website=Ontario Newsroom |publisher=Queen's Printer for Ontario |accessdate=March 30, 2020 |date=November 26, 2003}}</ref> In a December 2003 interview, Walker disagreed that the program did not provide value for money and claimed that Project Turnaround was under-capacity due to judges being more lenient on youth following changes to the ''Youth Criminal Justice Act''.<ref name="Turnaround's end">{{cite news |title=Turnaround's end |url=https://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/3605660-turnaround-s-end/ |accessdate=March 30, 2020 |work=Huntsville Forester |publisher=Metroland Media Group |date=December 5, 2003 |language=en-CA}}</ref>
All youth at Project Turnaround were relocated to public youth detention centres in December 2003 and the facility was formally closed on January 31, 2004.<ref name="Turnaround's end" />
== See also == * List of youth detention center incidents in Ontario * List of youth detention centre incidents in Canada * List of provincial correctional facilities in Ontario * Brookside Youth Centre * Sprucedale Youth Centre * Bluewater Youth Centre
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021226085906/http://www.corrections.mcs.gov.on.ca:80/english/cservices/young_pt.html |date=December 26, 2002 |title=Ministry of Correctional Services: Project Turnaround}}
Category:Youth detention centres in Canada Category:Defunct prisons in Ontario Category:1997 establishments in Ontario Category:2004 disestablishments in Ontario Category:Private prisons in Canada