The Center for Improving Youth Justice (CIYJ) is proud to announce the two winners of the 2025 Barbara Allen-Hagen Award. The award is given each year to a correction and a detention facility who best demonstrate use of the Performance-based Standards continuous improvement process to make positive changes and improve outcomes for young people, facility staff, families and communities.
Congratulations to our 2025 winners:
Pine Hills Correctional Facility in Montana is the winner of the Correction facility award. The team has been working diligently over the years to reduce their use of confinement through de-escalation, trauma-informed training and numerous other interventions that improved programming for young people.
Maricopa County Juvenile Detention Center in Arizona is the winner of the Detention facility award. The team addressed an increase in staff fear by improving recruiting efforts, revitalizing their Safety Committee and focusing on staff-youth relationships.
We are honored to be sharing the successes of our finalists and winners on our blog this summer. These remarkable winners also will be featured at our annual Awards Night Gala in Boston on Aug. 8.
Congratulations to all:
Steve Ray, superintendent and Teza Holland, compliance specialist; and their team: Teri Young, Teagan Stanley, Val Smith, Fred Willard, Tracey Juhl, Rita Robinson, Robin Holthus, Landon Woods, Alice Hougardy from the Montana Department of Corrections.
Eric Meaux, chief probation officer, Michaella Heslin, deputy chief, Aundrea Newman, division director and Brian Long, detention operations manager and their team: Ethan Erickson, Mia Rivera, Sarah Embury, Jaime Sandoval, Mark Eastin, Tyler Bowen, Chantay Banikarim, Yvette Hawthorne from the Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department.
The CIYJ Barbara Allen-Hagen Award, established in 2007, honors the legacy of Barbara Allen-Hagen, a dedicated advocate from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) who led the development of the Performance-based Standards project, now CIYJ’s signature program. This prestigious award recognizes facilities and programs that embody Barbara’s guiding principle: Treat all young people coming into facilities as one of our own. The awardees demonstrate the positive impact of adhering to research-based standards and the continuous improvement process championed by CIYJ.