|
|
| Gov. shuts down state facility for juvenile delinquents |
| By AP |
| Published: 07/04/2005 |
|
Gov. Robert Ehrlich last Thursday ordered the Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School to be closed and replaced with a regional detention center. The governor said the closing was part of a broad plan to reform the Department of Juvenile Services' oversight of troubled youths. In the first phase, the school's committed residential programs will be closed by Nov. 30. Juveniles served by those programs will be served by smaller, private residential programs or through services in their homes and communities. Second, the school's 72-bed detention center will be replaced with a new regional detention facility to be called the Baltimore County Children's Center. The existing detention center will remain open until the new facility is ready. The Ehrlich administration also entered an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to implement key reforms to strengthen health and education services for youths in the State's juvenile facilities. The state took over running the Hickey facility from a private contractor last year and found what Kenneth Montague, secretary of juvenile services, described as a "really abhorrent situation," of overcrowding and neglect. Despite attempts to renovate and upgrade the facility, juvenile advocates have pushed for the troubled institution to be closed. "When I assumed office in 2003, I ordered a dramatic shift in how Maryland treats its juvenile offenders," said Ehrlich. "My goal was clear: dismantle a broken system that suffered from a decade of neglect and replace it with a new, child-first culture centered on treatment and education." |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think