74 Inmates/ 350 Full Time Staff

[Lloyd Danforth]

The hard copy gave the statistics at 74 inmates and a full time staff of 350.  Somehow that didn't make it into the online article.
I, particularly,  like the part where the union rep claims the idea of changing things is a knee jerk reaction!
_____________________________________________________________________

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Faced with criticism that the $57 million Connecticut Juvenile Training School is failing in its mission to help troubled boys, child welfare officials said Monday that they are considering several plans for the facility's future.

But whatever happens in the coming months, the state will need a secure facility to handle some of the young offenders, Department of Children and Families Commissioner Darlene Dunbar told the legislature's Judiciary Committee.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell suggested last week that it may be time to close the four-year-old facility. Rell and other officials have said the Middletown training school is more like a prison than a juvenile rehabilitation center, and a recent report noted that more than 50 percent of boys who leave the school get into trouble within six months after their release.

A string of violent incidents last year prompted state officials to institute reforms. Since then, the population at the 240-bed facility has been reduced to 64 after the state decided to house only boys with the most serious needs there. The state spends more than $500,000 annually to treat each boy.

Rell asked DCF to report back by Aug. 1 with a plan for the future of the troubled training school.

Based on a facility in Marion, Ohio, the training school was fast-tracked through the legislature and became one of the projects scrutinized by federal corruption investigators looking into former Gov. John G. Rowland's administration.

Dunbar emphasized Monday that no decisions have been made.

But she said that the agency may consider running a scaled-down version of the training school and using the other parts of the campus for other programs. DCF is also looking at a model based on Missouri's system, and a plan to develop a series of smaller training schools in communities around the state.

Rell has said she would like to see as many juvenile offenders as possible transferred into smaller, community-based settings. Other states that have closed large detention centers have tried that approach, and the smaller settings usually are less expensive to run.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would gradually switch the campus to a short-term mental health facility, placing the boys in scattered homes around the state. Individual lawmakers have suggested using the campus for an adult prison or public boarding school.

Sen. Andrew McDonald, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, urged state officials not to make decisions based on the physical structure, as expensive as it may have been to build it.

"The department understands that it's got a facility on its hands that we may or may not have some use for," said McDonald, D-Stamford. He added, "If it's a failure, it's a failure, and we'd all be well-advised to acknowledge that and move forward."

State officials - including Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein - have urged DCF to make sure there is a plan in place if the facility does close. When the former coed Long Lane facility in Middletown shut down, the boys moved to the new training school but there was no system in place for girls.

The union that represents staff at the training school has been critical of the plan to move boys into community-based settings, saying that many of them will not survive there. They also say group home-type arrangements would not be accountable and may lack staff trained to handle aggressive behavior.

There also is a safety risk, some say.

"I worry it's a knee-jerk reaction," said Sandy Dearborn, president of AFSCME Local 2663, which represents training school staff. "I would bet that the police and residents of Middletown have been happy it's a secure facility, as opposed to an open campus."

[Russell Kanning]

The state spends more than $500,000 annually to treat each boy.

Holy schnikies

[Lloyd Danforth]

I know I'm gonna hear some crap over this one.

Considering the damage one child, particularly born to a teenager, can do to the taxpayers, I've considered this bumpersticker:

"Register Uteri"

[GT]

Rell and other officials have said the Middletown training school is more like a prison than a juvenile rehabilitation center, and a recent report noted that more than 50 percent of boys who leave the school get into trouble within six months after their release.

Looks pretty nice for a "prison"

http://www.kzf.com/Portfolio/Division4/portfolio_div4_connecticut.html

500,000 for each kid! Unbeleivable... ?