The Diagrama Model

Diagrama is a charity, a not-for-profit organisation, funded by the government to deliver services to young people who have been ordered by the court to a residential placement. In Australia we partner with the non-government sector to deliver residential services for young people in the care of child safety, but not youth justice. In other countries such as the UK, Diagrama also runs disability, aged care, child welfare, refugee support and other services. In all settings there are common elements such as clients being busy and occupying their time in meaningful ways, positive relationships at the centre of everything, and meeting people’s basic human needs in a positive way.

From the minute I walked into the first centre I felt safe, calm and relaxed. Every young person I saw looked healthy and busy doing something like playing sport, gardening, studying or cleaning. I saw young people with their arms casually slung over staff members’ shoulders, young people walking from place to place unaccompanied, animals, art, recreational activities and pristine environments. I visited eight different settings where young people live, all run by the Diagrama Foundation, and all with a consistent vision and framework. Not all settings looked beautiful, one was a very stark concrete set of buildings, but the model was the same. I spent significant time with young people including sharing meals and joining them during group therapeutic programs. The young people all spoke positively about the “opportunity” they were being given by being in the centres, saying things like, “I’ve learned how to do many things so I can get a job, and how to talk about what I’m feeling” and “I’m better than when I came in.”

Statutory context

The legislation relating to young offenders has changed significantly in the 31 years since Diagrama opened its first re-education centre for young people. They now run more than 35 centres across Spain. These changes have resulted in what is now a legal system that supports the Diagrama model to operate as successfully as it does (in the one study I’ve seen, fewer than 14% of young people went back to custody within six years after release from a Diagrama centre).

Some of the legislative changes are significant. Young people who offend before they are 18 do not carry a criminal record into adulthood. Spain has raised the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 14 years old (Queensland is 10). Previously 16-year-old children were considered adults, now an adult according to the Spanish legal system is 18. If you are 14-16 years old the maximum sentence you can be given for any crime is four years, if you are 17-18 the maximum sentence is eight years. The maximum amount of time a young person may be in custody on remand, before they go to trial is six months. You can imagine how this legislative change has encouraged the courts to reduce the processing time of young people who are accused of committing a crime. Diagrama’s relationship with the government and especially the courts is evident after 31 years as they are an active participant in conversations about legislative change when they occur.

The relationship with the courts is a large part of the model. The judge determines whether a young person should be in the community, on probation, or in an open or secure setting. The court order can also include mandatory programs such as drug and alcohol programs, depending on the young person. The Diagrama centre meets with the young person and relevant staff weekly to discuss progress towards the plan. Every three months a review is sent to the judge, who follows the young person’s case and often visits them in the centre to check on their progress. The centre may recommend a young person is ready to start going off centre for things like work, family visits or school (in Australia we call this a Leave of Absence or LOA) and the judge must agree the young person is ready to go off centre before any LOAs occur. I liked this system for a couple of reasons, firstly that the court is given insight into the young person’s progress and can see for themselves how well they are doing. Secondly, the court having a say in the plan for LOAs means there is a shared responsibility and risk assessment.

In contrast to other locations I’ve visited, no young people in Spain are sent directly to adult jail. If they offend before they are 18, they can stay in a centre for young people until they are 23. This is an important thing to remember as these centres have all the young people, with all the most violent offences, and still I felt safer here than anywhere else I’d been.

‍