A bill introduced in the Colorado House this week would not only change the name of the state Division of Youth Corrections but also how it restrains young offenders.

Rep. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, introduced House Bill 1329 to rename the juvenile justice agency the Division of Youth Services. The bill states its purpose is to “initiate a cultural change” and move away from shackles, isolation and manhandling children to obtain compliance.

As reported by The Gazette in early March, a report by the Colorado Child Safety Coalition found that DYC’s procedures of restraining adolescent offenders with shackles and full-body restraints, putting youth in isolation and striking their knees, thighs, buttocks and ribs has created “a culture of violence” at the state’s juvenile detention centers that has reached a crisis level.

One of the facilities cited by the report, and in investigations by The Gazette, is Spring Creek Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs.

Among references, the Child Safety Coalition report cited Gazette investigations that began in May 2014 and continued through 2016 into Spring Creek, an 80-bed detention center located at 3190 East Las Vegas.In the months following a gang-fueled riot last August, some employees said that the Spring Creek violence had reached an intolerable level and released to The Gazette video footage of youth attacking each other and employees.

From January 2016 to January 2017, DYC staff physically restrained kids 3,611 times and placed youth in solitary confinement 2,240 times, according to the Coalition report.

“It’s about stopping the uses of barbaric and medieval practices, putting kids into isolation for up to two weeks, using pain-compliance techniques, shackling their arms and legs until they can’t move,” Lee told Colorado Politics Wednesday morning.

The Department of Human Services disputes that characterization, saying that a youth cannot be held in seclusion under any circumstances for more than a total of eight hours in two consecutive calendar days without a written court order. The average is 48 minutes, according to DHS.

Lee supports management techniques that foster better long-term solutions for children, whereas physical punishment is a drastic solution to an immediate problem that’s not good for the child or, ultimately, society, he said.

Lee said other states care for troubled kids, “and they don’t have the level of violence we have in DYC.”He expects to bring the bill up for its first hearing next week before the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.

Debbie Kelley, Megan Schrader and Maria St. Louis-Sanchez of The Gazette analyzed about 1,600 pages of DYC reports and other documents in 2015, concluding, “Taken together, the documents paint a picture of an out-of-control environment where harshness rules.”

The Department of Human Services, which oversees DYC, has been working on the issues for awhile, but it hasn’t taken a position on the bill Lee introduced Monday.

“The Division of Youth Corrections has been investigating the possibility of a pilot in youth corrections for some months now,” said Laura Morsch-Babu, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, which oversees DYC. “We are looking at Rep. Lee’s bill and have not taken a position on it. We are still trying to work out the ramifications, such as how much it would cost to implement and whether timelines are realistic.

“There are other parts of the bill regarding records release that raise concerns about youth confidentiality, and revealing security protocols that could put staff and youth at risk. We will continue to evaluate the bill.”

While legislative staff hasn’t finished an analysis on the cost to taxpayers, the bill creates a fund and allows the state to seek gifts, grants and donations to pay for the pilot program.

The bill, first reported Tuesday by Jennifer Brown of The Denver Post, has to clear the House and Senate before the session ends on May 10.

“I don’t speculate on opposition,” Lee said of the bill’s chances. “I assume all my bills are so well-crafted and such good public policy that everyone will support them.”

The bill would require the Division of Youth Services to hire an outside service to train staff and leadership, as well as another vendor to determine if it’s effective.

The bill also renames and expands the Youth Seclusion Working Group to become the Youth Restraint and Seclusion Working Group. The division would report to the group about uses of restraints and seclusion. The division already reports to the current group on a behavior management plan for any youth isolated more than eight hours in two consecutive days.

The legislation also would create community boards in each region and require management-level staff from the regional facility to participate.

DHS already provides the legislature an annual report on recidivism, but House Bill 1329 would add reporting on educational outcomes, as well as require a state audit of the reports.