JOSEPH SANTARELLI

Recreation In A Correctional Setting

by Joseph Santarelli

(Editors note: Joseph Santarelli is Recreation Director at Hanna City Boys' School.)

Hanna City Boys' School, located on a former military radar installation eleven miles west of Peoria on Route 116, is a special education school for boys between the ages of 13 and 16. As a facility under the Juvenile Division of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the school's primary function is to provide an individualized, special education for those youth assigned us from the Reception and Diagnostic Center at Joliet.

Aside from the academic program, the students are offered counseling—in a group setting and also individually, a cottage life program which is mainly responsible for the security and welfare of the students, and lastly, a recreation program.

The recreation staff at Hanna City consists of a director, two recreation coordinators and one part - time employee. Summer help is employed as the budget allows. The Hanna City recreation staff ranks as one of the largest, in proportion to the school's population, within the Department of Corrections. Duties of the director range from preparing the recreation program's fiscal year budget to coordinating all recreation and athletic programs to recruiting volunteers.

The coordinator's responsibilities are to provide leadership of activities, supervise volunteer workers, and participate in team counseling of the students.

Front entrance to Hanna City Boys School.

Recreational facilities on the school's campus include a gymnasium with a classroom and a two-lane bowling alley. Other areas include four outdoor basketball courts, playground equipment, a running track and a softball diamond. The primary use of these facilities is for the students, but the staff may also make use of these facilities through the scheduling of the recreation department.

Recreation programming is broken down into three basic divisions: (1) on-campus recreation; (2) off-campus recreation; and (3) athletics. Activities included on campus are general recreation (gym, outdoor playground, bowling, dormitory activities), special events, movies shown weekly, and a volunteer program.

Currently, the volunteers within our program are students from Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois. These college students are conducting classes in wrestling and softball techniques and also assisting with tutoring in the educational program.

We are also in the process of developing an art program to be instructed by an area high school teacher. Because of the concern by staff of working with a large group of students, volunteers play an important role in providing the student individual activities.

Activities conducted off campus include roller skating, swimming, special events, (concerts, circuses, etc.) and field trips (State Capitol, Springfield, New Salem State Park, and Dickson Mounds Museum).

Students use Canton YMCA for swimming programs

To further enhance the recreation program, our students possess membership at the Canton YMCA and use that facility extensively. The Peoria and Canton Park Districts work very cooperatively with allowing us to use their facilities frequently.

As a means of bringing together the students from the various juvenile division facilities, Hanna City Boys' School sponsored an inter-institutional bowling tournament held at the Airport Bowl in Bartonville. Although only five schools participated in 1973, we anticipate more entries in the future.

Athletics play an important role in the lives of the students at Hanna City Boys' School. For this reason, a seasonal intramural program is scheduled and the school competes athletically

Illinois Parks and Recreation 26 September/October, 1973

Inter-institutional bowling tournament was held in a Peoria bowling lane.

as a member of the Illinois Elementary School Association.

Our students also compete in a church basketball league sponsored by the Canton YMCA and a 12" slow-pitch softball league against three area teams. Combining the interscholastic and the intramural programs, the students are provided competitive athletics against teams from the community and among the students themselves.

In the past, recreation in a correctional setting has been primarily geared toward sports and athletics. For this reason, there is a definite need for the recreation profession in corrections to provide a varied program to meet the needs of all persons. At Hanna City Boys' School, attempts to meet the needs and interests of the students are made by letting them express their opinions on the types of programs in which they would like to participate. Recreational programming in a correctional setting has its unique problems, but is very comparable to community programming.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 27 September/October, 1973