Most St. Joseph residents could go months, even years, without paying notice to the buildings located at 5910 Mitchell Ave. The Missouri Division of Youth Services likes it that way. But there was a time when the Riverbend Treatment Center was a topic of widespread debate within St. Joseph. In 1995, a new state law allowed the DYS to keep some offenders in juvenile custody until the age of 21. This prompted the need to construct new facilities for juveniles who didnât belong in a state prison but needed something more secure than a group home. When some St. Joseph residents objected to a âyouth prison,â the common reply was that this wasnât a prison at all. It was a treatment center. That seemed to put the public at ease.