BOSTON -- A Team 5 Investigation into the state's alternative lockup program found that children's rights are being violated all over the state.

Team 5 Investigates Why Children Are Unlawfully Held Without Bail | Judge Discusses Alternative Lockup Program

NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported on Monday that state tax dollars are being wasted because juveniles are being locked up longer than necessary, without being given the right to a bail hearing.

Alternative lockups are places where children who get arrested are temporarily held to keep them separate from adult criminals. The rooms look like many college dorms, except with almost no freedom. "The main problem is that too many children are locked up unnecessarily," said Barbara Kaban, Deputy Director, Children's Law Center.

Team 5 spoke to a 15-year- old whose identity we agreed to protect. He spent three days in an alternative lockup. "I couldn't eat, take a shower, brush my teeth. Three days felt like three years," said the boy. He said he was arrested following a disputed search by a school resource officer. "He tried to like force his hand in my pocket so I just shook it a little bit and he said it was assault and battery on a police officer," said the boy.

The teen claims police and probation wouldn't let him go home with his father, even though up until this incident, he'd never been in trouble with the law. "It was unjustified what he went through," said the boy's father.

Team 5 Investigates found dozens of cases during a review of state records where teenagers were locked up for days for what most of us would consider minor charges like shoplifting, trespassing, or fighting. Critics say there's no reason for it and it's a waste of tax dollars.

"The problem isn't the ALP. The problem is the decision makers who are deciding that kids should be detained there," said Kaban.

Barbara Kaban co-authored a 2006 report for the Children's Law Center. It showed how in 2004, 4,201 kids, some as young as seven, were locked up, hundreds without being given the right to post bail. "It goes back to years of practice where they've fallen into this pattern. There hasn't been enough push back in the system," said Kaban.

Suffolk County Juvenile Judge Leslie Harris said that needs to change. "I think it's abusive to hold a child who does not need to be held," said Harris.

Team 5's review of every child held at an ALP in 2006 found more than two hundred kids didn't get access to a bail hearing. At least 60 of them were younger than 13 and half were accused of misdemeanor crimes.

"One of the problems we're working on with police is to try to make sure that doesn't happen. That every police officer knows that a child has a right to a bail commissioner," said Harris. "And you have not taken that lightly?" asked Kelly. "I have called the captains and spoken to them and said look we can't let this happen," said Harris.

"It's one of those situations where everybody's pointing the finger at someone else," said Kaban.

Team 5 Investigates encountered that firsthand when we tried to find out why so many kids' rights are being violated. The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security oversees the program. "Why hasn't your office looked at some of these concerns?" asked Kelly. "Again, bail hearings are something that the police deal with and the probation department," said Mary Beth Heffernan, Undersecretary, Executive Office of Public Safety.

Team 5 went to the probation department, but they refused to answer our questions.

And Bob Gittens, Chair of the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee which authorizes the funding for the program, didn't have much to say either. "Who's making sure that kids are getting the proper hearings?" asked Kelly. "The question about bail is not something that falls under our jurisdiction," said Gittens.

But the cost of the program does, and it is not cheap. Taxpayers spend almost $2 million each year to operate alternative lockups. The price is inflated when kids stay longer than necessary. "We should be asking is that a good use of our funds and that is a serious problem," said Kaban.

Right now there's no state standard for how ALPS must operate. One of them is run out of a trailer. Another out of a group home. And most of them are staffed by sheriff's deputies with limited or no experience in dealing with children in custody.

"Should there be a set standard?" asked Kelly. "If there is not one, perhaps there should be one," said Heffernan.

Team 5 Investigates tried asking the Patrick administration's newly appointed child advocate about these problems but we were told to check with the Department of Youth Services instead. That's surprising since DYS currently has no authority over the program. But the state says it eventually hopes to change that.