INSIDE
SPORTS Young Steelmen looking for success
NEWS Rep. Jack McGuire says goodbye to government Page 2
Page 11
www.jolietbugle.com
Our Village, Our News
APRIL 11, 2012
Vol. 4 No. 32
No Youth Center? ‘Vision’ for youth rehab does not include Joliet Youth Center By Sherri Dauskurdas Staff Reporter
T
he possible closing of the Jolietbased Illinois Youth Center, which houses the state’s most violent and aggressive young people, has become an issue fueled by emotion over safety, treatment, money and jobs. But closing the Joliet-based Illinois Youth Center and disbursing those incarcerated to other facilities across the state is about more than budget, it’s about vision. At an open hearing in Joliet last week, arguments for and against the closure of the Joliet facility were heard by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, chaired by Rep. Patti Bellock. According to Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice Director Arthur Bishop, the recommendation to shutter the Joliet Youth Center in favor of other facilities in St. Charles, Kewanee and Harrisburg comes not only from budgetary pressure,
but from a desire to change the way youth in Illinois are rehabilitated. Bishop told the commission that because 90 percent of the budget of the IDJJ is allocated to running facilities, it has no choice but to close two in order to meet budgetary cuts. On average, the facilities statewide operate at 64 percent capacity, with about 570 beds empty on any given day. However, which facilities get closed should be determined not solely on the dollar. Instead, he said the decision should “seek to cut inefficiency first,” while “keeping in mind the long-term vision of a more therapeutic and rehabilitative system.” “Research and studies across the country have verified that strong diversion and after school programs are more successful than incarceration,” Bishop said. He added that the very environment at the Joliet Youth Center, built in the 1950s, inhibits such See YOUTH, page 9