LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — There is a place about an hour outside of the Las Vegas valley that houses the teen offenders whose delinquent acts should scare you.
Their acts range from probation violations, burglary to threats to shoot up a school.
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The Spring Mountain Valley Youth Camp is nestled in the cool pines near Mount Charleston, a place where the weather is not the only thing that is continuously changing.
When the boys come to the facility, it is not by choice.
Every six months, a new batch of boys, about 125 of them, are sent to the facility.
"When I first got here, I started working in the kitchen my first week," said one of the teens whose identity is kept secret for privacy laws.
"Ever since then, I felt like I've changed a lot and I've got more work experience," he added.
The idea behind the camp is to change behaviors, open doors, and teach new skills.
"Once they see that [they] can grow, [they] can achieve some things, [they] can become the person [they] want to be. It's priceless because you actually get to see the growth first hand," said Jeff Jones, Division Manager at the Spring Mountain Youth Camp.
Sadly, some of the boys will not make the necessary changes and eventually end up back in front of a judge.
"I send them up to camp, and when they are ready to come back down, they come back in front of me, and we talk about their experience and see how they did," said Judge William Voy.
Judge Voy refers to the offenders as "his kids" and says he believes in the program.
"It's probably one of the more unique facilities in all of juvenile justice in all of the United States," said Voy.
The facility has changed over the years to accommodate the changing needs of the boys who get sent to the mountain to build a new future.
