COLCHESTER, Vt. — Gov. Phil Scott’s administration wants to close the state’s only juvenile detention facility, a move that comes after news last week that the 30-bed facility was empty for the first time ever.
Vermont Agency of Human Services said in a press release Monday afternoon that the administration informed staff at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex.
The administration plans to recommend to the Legislature that the facility be closed in 2020. Closing Woodside, according to the release, requires legislative approval. Vermont spends about $6 million a year on the facility.
“This Administration — through the Agency of Human Services — working with the legislature and community partners has greatly increased community capacity where youth with mental health concerns can be treated in the least restrictive setting possible,” Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said in the release.
“This work has led to a significant decline in delinquent youth in custody,” he added. “The steady decline of delinquent youth in State custody has impacted the population at Woodside, and over the last several months, the census at Woodside has been five or fewer youth.”
The proposal to close the facility will almost certainly generate debate in the Legislature. Lawmakers were trying to decide whether to renovate Woodside or start from scratch and build a therapeutic facility for juvenile offenders.
Ken Schatz, commissioner of the state Department for Families and Children, in an interview last week said officials did not have a recommendation for the future of the facility, but are “carefully looking at it.”
Schatz said Monday that the low numbers at Woodside led to discussions with administration officials about closing the facility.
Schatz said if Woodside were to close, DCF would look to work with family members and “community partners” who have been helping reduce the numbers at Woodside.
The 50 employees who work at Woodside would be needed until the facility closes some months from now, Schatz said.
He said specifics would depend on the collective bargaining agreement between state employees and the state Department of Human Resources.
Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, is gearing up for a fight to keep Woodside open.
“It is a repeat of the tragedy that was the mental health system all over again, in which we’re going to rely solely on out-of-state placements and community resources,” Howard said Monday afternoon.
“Kids are going to get piled up in emergency rooms when this whole system fails,” he said.
Howard said a large majority of the staff members at Woodside are members of the VSEA.
“Our view is that the administration may want to make this a predetermined outcome,” he said. “But they’re going to get a lot of resistance. They’re going to hear from not only employees, they’re going to hear from family members of kids who have been well served, they may hear from kids.”
The 30-bed Woodside facility is for youths, ages 10 to 18, often in need of mental health treatment, and is overseen by the Vermont Department for Children and Families.
The Vermont Defender General’s Office and Disability Rights Vermont have both sued Woodside and DCF this year. The lawsuits challenged Woodside’s use of physical restraints, as well as seclusion and isolation of youth at the facility.