Vision care in a juvenile detention facility

Optometry plays a key role in the provision of vision care services at the San Bernardino Juvenile Hall (SBJH), where 400 juvenile offenders, aged 12 to 18 years, are incarcerated. This program in San Bernardino, California, was established in 1979 by a practicing optometrist with support from federal, state, and local funding agencies. It operates as an outreach clinical program to train senior students of the Southern California College of Optometry for professional practice opportunities in a nontraditional setting. An important component of the SBJH program is an ongoing clinical research program to study the relation between vision problems and juvenile delinquency, and the effect of vision training on the rehabilitation of delinquent youths. Preliminary data indicate a reduction in the recidivism rate for this population group.