Study alternatives to youth prisons
A new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation suggests that imprisoning juveniles is ineffective, harmful and costly.
It comes at a time when Gov. Pat Quinn is battling to close a youth prison in downstate Murphysboro along with six other state buildings. Another of those facilities is the Mabley Developmental Center in Dixon.
Not surprisingly, at a hearing in Murphysboro recently, area residents and officials decried the loss of jobs and economic impact of shutting down the youth prison. We empathize with their fear and we understand it.
Still, it’s imperative that state officials continue to seriously pursue alternatives to large youth prisons. We all need to keep an open mind about the notion of closing some state facilities and youth prisons, specifically.
In 2009, an unidentified 16-year-old boy committed suicide at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles. Two years later, the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group, reported the facility still had unsafe beds like the one used in the suicide. That’s just not acceptable.
It’s clear Illinois doesn’t have the funds to operate these facilities safely and effectively. And yet the amount of money spent to imprison youths in Illinois is outrageous. The state’s auditor general reported in August that it cost $142,342 to imprison one juvenile in Murphysboro in fiscal year 2010. For that amount of money, taxpayers could put a teen through several years’ education at one of the best private universities in the nation. Does that really make any sense?
That same auditor general report said it cost an eye-popping $144,150 to imprison one juvenile at the facility in Warrenville and $76,045 to incarcerate one youth in St Charles. On that basis alone, options must be seriously explored.
Beyond that, the Casey study and experience in other states further make the case. Officials elsewhere are remaking juvenile correction models and working to keep troubled juveniles in community-based care. Other states also are retraining employees affected by prison closings. In New York, for instance, stateline.org recently reported, four facilities were closed and parts of four others were shuttered. Gov. Andrew Cuomo set aside $50 million in development aid to help communities affected by the closings. In Florida, a “redirection program” that puts less serious offenders in family-focused, community-based treatment saved more than $41 million over four years, the Casey report notes. A law taking effect here next year requires courts to try to find alternatives to prison for juveniles in many cases. That’s a solid first step.
We’re no experts on juvenile justice and we are not saying juveniles don’t ever need imprisonment, but these studies and figures strongly suggest Illinois officials must be open to other models and should continue seriously studying them.