(A) The juvenile court may commit any child to the department of youth services as authorized in Chapter 2152. of the Revised Code, provided that any child so committed shall be at least ten years of age at the time of the child’s delinquent act, and, if the child is ten or eleven years of age, the delinquent act is a violation of section 2909.03 of the Revised Code or would be aggravated murder, murder, or a first or second degree felony offense of violence if committed by an adult. Any order to commit a child to an institution under the control and management of the department shall have the effect of ordering that the child be committed to the department and assigned to an institution or placed in a community corrections facility in accordance with division (E) of section 5139.36 of the Revised Code as follows:

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(1) For an indefinite term consisting of the prescribed minimum period specified by the court under division (A)(1) of section 2152.16 of the Revised Code and a maximum period not to exceed the child’s attainment of twenty-one years of age, if the child was committed pursuant to section 2152.16 of the Revised Code;

(2) Until the child’s attainment of twenty-one years of age, if the child was committed for aggravated murder or murder pursuant to section 2152.16 of the Revised Code;

(3) For a period of commitment that shall be in addition to, and shall be served consecutively with and prior to, a period of commitment described in division (A)(1) or (2) of this section, if the child was committed pursuant to section 2152.17 of the Revised Code;

(4) If the child is ten or eleven years of age, to an institution, a residential care facility, a residential facility, or a facility licensed by the department of job and family services that the department of youth services considers best designated for the training and rehabilitation of the child and protection of the public. The child shall be housed separately from children who are twelve years of age or older until the child is released or discharged or until the child attains twelve years of age, whichever occurs first. Upon the child’s attainment of twelve years of age, if the child has not been released or discharged, the department is not required to house the child separately.

(B)(1) Except as otherwise provided in section 5139.54 of the Revised Code, the release authority of the department of youth services, in accordance with section 5139.51 of the Revised Code and at any time after the end of the minimum period specified under division (A)(1) of section 2152.16 of the Revised Code, may grant the release from custody of any child committed to the department.

The order committing a child to the department of youth services shall state that the child has been adjudicated a delinquent child and state the minimum period. The jurisdiction of the court terminates at the end of the minimum period except as follows:

(a) In relation to judicial release procedures, supervision, and violations;

(b) With respect to functions of the court related to the revocation of supervised release that are specified in sections 5139.51 and 5139.52 of the Revised Code;

(c) In relation to its duties relating to serious youthful offender dispositional sentences under sections 2152.13 and 2152.14 of the Revised Code.

(2) When a child has been committed to the department under section 2152.16 of the Revised Code, the department shall retain legal custody of the child until one of the following:

(a) The department discharges the child to the exclusive management, control, and custody of the child’s parent or the guardian of the child’s person or, if the child is eighteen years of age or older, discharges the child.

(b) The committing court, upon its own motion, upon petition of the parent, guardian of the person, or next friend of a child, or upon petition of the department, terminates the department’s legal custody of the child.

(c) The committing court grants the child a judicial release to court supervision under section 2152.22 of the Revised Code.

(d) The department’s legal custody of the child is terminated automatically by the child attaining twenty-one years of age.

(e) If the child is subject to a serious youthful offender dispositional sentence, the adult portion of that dispositional sentence is imposed under section 2152.14 of the Revised Code.

(C) When a child is committed to the department of youth services, the department may assign the child to a hospital for mental, physical, and other examination, inquiry, or treatment for the period of time that is necessary. The department may remove any child in its custody to a hospital for observation, and a complete report of every observation at the hospital shall be made in writing and shall include a record of observation, treatment, and medical history and a recommendation for future treatment, custody, and maintenance. The department shall thereupon order the placement and treatment that it determines to be most conducive to the purposes of Chapters 2151. and 5139. of the Revised Code. The committing court and all public authorities shall make available to the department all pertinent data in their possession with respect to the case.

(D) Records maintained by the department of youth services pertaining to the children in its custody shall be accessible only to department employees, except by consent of the department, upon the order of the judge of a court of record, or as provided in divisions (D)(1) and (2) of this section. These records shall not be considered “public records,” as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(1) Except as otherwise provided by a law of this state or the United States, the department of youth services may release records that are maintained by the department of youth services and that pertain to children in its custody to the department of rehabilitation and correction regarding persons who are under the jurisdiction of the department of rehabilitation and correction and who have previously been committed to the department of youth services. The department of rehabilitation and correction may use those records for the limited purpose of carrying out the duties of the department of rehabilitation and correction. Records released by the department of youth services to the department of rehabilitation and correction shall remain confidential and shall not be considered public records as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(2) The department of youth services shall provide to the superintendent of the school district in which a child discharged or released from the custody of the department is entitled to attend school under section 3313.64 or 3313.65 of the Revised Code the records described in divisions (D)(4)(a) to (d) of section 2152.18 of the Revised Code. Subject to the provisions of section 3319.321 of the Revised Code and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, as amended, the records released to the superintendent shall remain confidential and shall not be considered public records as defined in section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(E)(1) When a child is committed to the department of youth services, the department, orally or in writing, shall notify the parent, guardian, or custodian of a child that the parent, guardian, or custodian may request at any time from the superintendent of the institution in which the child is located any of the information described in divisions (E)(1)(a), (b), (c), and (d) of this section. The parent, guardian, or custodian may provide the department with the name, address, and telephone number of the parent, guardian, or custodian, and, until the department is notified of a change of name, address, or telephone number, the department shall use the name, address, and telephone number provided by the parent, guardian, or custodian to provide notices or answer inquiries concerning the following information:

(a) When the department of youth services makes a permanent assignment of the child to a facility, the department, orally or in writing and on or before the third business day after the day the permanent assignment is made, shall notify the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child of the name of the facility to which the child has been permanently assigned.

If a parent, guardian, or custodian of a child who is committed to the department of youth services requests, orally or in writing, the department to provide the parent, guardian, or custodian with the name of the facility in which the child is currently located, the department, orally or in writing and on or before the next business day after the day on which the request is made, shall provide the name of that facility to the parent, guardian, or custodian.

(b) If a parent, guardian, or custodian of a child who is committed to the department of youth services, orally or in writing, asks the superintendent of the institution in which the child is located whether the child is being disciplined by the personnel of the institution, what disciplinary measure the personnel of the institution are using for the child, or why the child is being disciplined, the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee, on or before the next business day after the day on which the request is made, shall provide the parent, guardian, or custodian with written or oral responses to the questions.

(c) If a parent, guardian, or custodian of a child who is committed to the department of youth services, orally or in writing, asks the superintendent of the institution in which the child is held whether the child is receiving any medication from personnel of the institution, what type of medication the child is receiving, or what condition of the child the medication is intended to treat, the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee, on or before the next business day after the day on which the request is made, shall provide the parent, guardian, or custodian with oral or written responses to the questions.

(d) When a major incident occurs with respect to a child who is committed to the department of youth services, the department, as soon as reasonably possible after the major incident occurs, shall notify the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child that a major incident has occurred with respect to the child and of all the details of that incident that the department has ascertained.

(2) The failure of the department of youth services to provide any notification required by or answer any requests made pursuant to division (E) of this section does not create a cause of action against the state.

(F) The department of youth services, as a means of punishment while the child is in its custody, shall not prohibit a child who is committed to the department from seeing that child’s parent, guardian, or custodian during standard visitation periods allowed by the department of youth services unless the superintendent of the institution in which the child is held determines that permitting that child to visit with the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian would create a safety risk to that child, that child’s parents, guardian, or custodian, the personnel of the institution, or other children held in that institution.

(G) As used in this section:

(1) “Permanent assignment” means the assignment or transfer for an extended period of time of a child who is committed to the department of youth services to a facility in which the child will receive training or participate in activities that are directed toward the child’s successful rehabilitation. “Permanent assignment” does not include the transfer of a child to a facility for judicial release hearings pursuant to section 2152.22 of the Revised Code or for any other temporary assignment or transfer to a facility.

(2) “Major incident” means the escape or attempted escape of a child who has been committed to the department of youth services from the facility to which the child is assigned; the return to the custody of the department of a child who has escaped or otherwise fled the custody and control of the department without authorization; the allegation of any sexual activity with a child committed to the department; physical injury to a child committed to the department as a result of alleged abuse by department staff; an accident resulting in injury to a child committed to the department that requires medical care or treatment outside the institution in which the child is located; the discovery of a controlled substance upon the person or in the property of a child committed to the department; a suicide attempt by a child committed to the department; a suicide attempt by a child committed to the department that results in injury to the child requiring emergency medical services outside the institution in which the child is located; the death of a child committed to the department; an injury to a visitor at an institution under the control of the department that is caused by a child committed to the department; and the commission or suspected commission of an act by a child committed to the department that would be an offense if committed by an adult.

(3) “Sexual activity” has the same meaning as in section 2907.01 of the Revised Code.

(4) “Controlled substance” has the same meaning as in section 3719.01 of the Revised Code.

(5) “Residential care facility” and “residential facility” have the same meanings as in section 2151.011 of the Revised Code.