Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner announced Friday that he'll close a troubled downstate youth detention center, citing a drop in juvenile offenders in state custody after a series of new laws aimed at keeping young offenders out of the corrections system.
Located in Kewanee, about 150 miles southwest of Chicago, the center houses mentally ill youths and those charged with sex crimes. About 43 percent of the roughly 260 juvenile males there were committed from Cook County. Critics said the facility was chronically understaffed and could not provide adequate education, security or health care.
Juvenile justice advocates praised Rauner's decision, saying money used to run the facility could be better spent on rehabilitative and preventive programs. A spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 said the union received no notice of Rauner's plan to shut down the center and is opposed to the closure.
Under state law, Rauner's proposal to close a state facility must get a public hearing before a bipartisan panel of lawmakers. The panel can chose to approve or reject the closure, but it's largely a technicality because the ruling is only advisory.
Rauner to close troubled downstate youth detention center
Let Freedom Ring!!!! I got five that says some are going to wish they hadn't. But, hey budget cuts.
Located in Kewanee, about 150 miles southwest of Chicago, the center houses mentally ill youths and those charged with sex crimes. About 43 percent of the roughly 260 juvenile males there were committed from Cook County. Critics said the facility was chronically understaffed and could not provide adequate education, security or health care.
Juvenile justice advocates praised Rauner's decision, saying money used to run the facility could be better spent on rehabilitative and preventive programs. A spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 said the union received no notice of Rauner's plan to shut down the center and is opposed to the closure.
Under state law, Rauner's proposal to close a state facility must get a public hearing before a bipartisan panel of lawmakers. The panel can chose to approve or reject the closure, but it's largely a technicality because the ruling is only advisory.
Rauner to close troubled downstate youth detention center
Let Freedom Ring!!!! I got five that says some are going to wish they hadn't. But, hey budget cuts.
