MA Juvenile Resource Center Empty
A Hillman Street center for juvenile offenders, slated for closing last month but then given an at-least-temporary reprieve by the state, remained empty last week, leaving its staff concerned about the program’s status.
“Our concern is really about the facts on the ground right now,” said Andy Pond, president of Justice Resource Institute Inc., which contracts with the state to run the New Bedford center and a second center in Boston. “We’re not serving kids right now.” News reported in South Coast Today.
The New Bedford and Boston programs are two of four Juvenile Resource Centers across the state that provide direct supervision and clinical services to adolescent boys sentenced there from the juvenile court system or the state Department of Youth Services. The others are located in Brockton and Worcester.
Program officials were informed last month that they would be closed down by Sept. 30 at the latest due to budget constraints.
However, the state changed course a week later, stating that an assessment of the operations of the state Office of Community Corrections, under which the centers sit, would be conducted before any programming decisions were made.
“The message from (Probation) Acting Commissioner (Ronald) Corbett … is: open pending a serious review,” said Pond. “But what we’re experiencing doesn’t seem to be congruent with that.”
All of the adolescents enrolled at the New Bedford center when initial word to close came down have been reassigned elsewhere despite the state’s change in position, according to Pond.
The center has been told it will continue to receive new referrals, but no boys have been sent to the New Bedford program recently, leaving it empty as of Wednesday afternoon, said Pond.
According to Patricia Horne, deputy director of operations for the Office of Community Corrections, the adolescents enrolled at the New Bedford center were brought back to court for new assignments after it was announced the future of the centers might be in jeopardy due to budget concerns.
Horne did not provide a direct answer when asked why the boys who were discharged from the New Bedford center in the wake of the initial closure announcement have not been re-enrolled at the center.
According to Horne, the Suffolk County center has 13 boys enrolled, the Brockton center has six boys, and the Worcester program has 15 participants. There are no adolescents enrolled in New Bedford. The programs have a maximum capacity of about 25 participants.
Meanwhile, the Boston and New Bedford centers are still fully staffed, according to Pond.
“I know in New Bedford, they’re actually painting the office, just trying to do something to feel that their situation is worthwhile,” he said.
Pond said the messages he has received from the state have reassured him as to its commitment to conduct a serious review and not to act precipitously. However, he said, there is a gap between what he’s hearing from the state and what he’s seeing happen at the centers.
“I think the lack of clarity has been part of the challenge,” said Pond.
Horne said programming decisions will be made based on the review of the fiscal 2011 budget deficit and its effect on the probation and community corrections departments; once the review is complete, the status of future placements in the juvenile centers will be more clear, according to Horne.
The departments “want to minimize disruption in the educational placements for the young men who were being served by the centers, since decisions may not be finalized before the beginning of the school year,” she wrote in an e-mail.
While the JRI staff are, obviously, concerned about their jobs, Pond said they are also very worried about the adolescents they are committed to helping.
“This is one of our favorite programs because it really pulls together such a great combination of services,” he said. “It isn’t just keeping kids off the street. It’s really aiming kids in a new direction.”
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