Michigan Woman Details Harsh Reality of Juvenile Detention and Addiction
After years in detention and addiction, a Michigan woman says support and compassion—not the courts—saved her life.
Janene Tague grew up in Michigan, battling something few around her could see.
From an early age, she showed signs of mental illness. Her mother knew something was wrong but could not get answers. Doctor after doctor offered the same misdiagnosis. Treatment was delayed.
By the time Tague reached her teenage years, she was self-medicating. She turned to drugs because there was little help available. Her mother tried to admit her to a mental health hospital, but services for children were limited. Beds were scarce.
Instead, the courts stepped in.
Tague skipped school and resisted authority at home. Officials labeled her “truant.” At 14, she was charged with stealing eyeliner from a store. The misdemeanor led a judge in Oakland County to send her to Children’s Village, a juvenile detention facility.
She did not leave until she turned 18.
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Locked away
Children’s Village had separate wings. Some were for foster children. Others housed teens who had committed violent crimes. Tague began in the truancy section but was later transferred to maximum security for girls.
Inside, she expected therapy. She expected help.
It never came.
Instead, she said staff cycled her through different medications every month. Some made her hallucinate. Others caused her to faint. At times, she was restrained by force.
“They were experimenting on me,” she said. “It was about keeping kids in beds, not about helping them.”
She left the system without a high school diploma. She said the facilities did not provide proper education.
“They promised cross-country skiing and bike rides in the brochures,” Tague recalled. “But behind locked doors, it was nothing like that.”
A spiral downward
Less than three weeks after being released, Tague got married. She tried heroin for the first time.
Her life collapsed.
She cycled in and out of rehab and detox centers. Nothing worked. Programs, she said, were often underfunded or unavailable for people without insurance.
“Rehab didn’t work. Detox didn’t work. Nothing worked for me,” she said.
She eventually turned to methadone, a treatment for opioid addiction. That helped her stabilize. She has been off methadone since 2021.
Finding support
What finally changed her life was not the state. It was not the courts. It was not a facility.
It was people.
Tague found a support system that did not judge her. Friends accepted her struggles and stood by her.
“When people don’t look down on you, you feel like you can trust them,” she said. “That helped guide me to a better path.”
She now works as a harm reduction specialist. She hands out hygiene supplies and helps others on the streets find treatment.
Michigan has seen a 34 percent drop in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024. Experts credit harm reduction programs for the decline.
A broken system
Tague believes the juvenile and mental health systems in Michigan — and across the country — need major change.
Too often, she said, addiction and mental illness are treated as crimes.
“Addiction and mental health are the only diseases treated criminally and medically,” she said. “That’s wrong.”
She pointed to her brother as another example. He suffers from schizophrenia. Police once tried to arrest him after he panhandled near Detroit. He ran, panicked. An officer fell and broke a hand during the chase. Prosecutors charged her brother.
“It all started with mental illness,” Tague said.
She says programs receive state money but focus on filling beds, not helping kids. Lawsuits have been filed against some facilities, including Capstone Academy, where she said children were placed in unsafe, mold-filled buildings.
“They shouldn’t have even opened that place,” she said.
Stigma remains
Even today, Tague said she faces criticism. Some people attack her online for handing out supplies to the homeless. They argue that drug users chose their path and do not deserve help.
She rejects that idea.
“No one without problems just decides to use substances,” she said. “It always comes from something deeper.”
She said the system also lacks enough counselors and psychiatrists. In rural Michigan, she said, patients may have to drive 20 miles or more for treatment.
A call for action
Tague believes solutions are possible.
She wants lawmakers to provide more funding for therapy, not just medication. She wants more young people to become mental health professionals. She wants courts to stop treating teenagers like criminals when what they need is counseling.
Most of all, she wants people to listen.
“We need to talk about mental health more,” she said. “Not in a one-minute news story, but in full conversations.”
She said families can make a difference by standing by loved ones, even when they relapse.
“That’s what worked for me,” she said. “Someone believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Bridging divides
Despite political differences, Tague agreed to share her story publicly. She said these issues should not be partisan.
“Mental health should not be political,” she said. “It should only be about making someone healthy.”
Her message is simple: take each day at a time, support those who struggle, and demand accountability from leaders.
“Day by day, just make it through,” Tague said.
Thank you @Dave Bondy for taking the time out to talk about a very real issue America faces daily. ❤️
This is a HUGE problem. Children are completely failed by the system when the need help. The grow up and end up in jail because they were never listened to, understood or helped. Just drugged. Parents that have been asking for help for years are blamed. There needs to be mental health/ drug courts in every county. Where punishments have to do with help and healing. I feel for this woman. Violent criminals in prison have the "right" to an education. But not kids that part of why they were picked up was truancy. Makes no sense.