This article was updated at 8:28 p.m. on Nov. 25.
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.
“We’re definitely carefully looking at it,” he said last week.
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.
Schatz said he could provide additional details about that Tuesday, but did say in some cases it could mean employees moving to other jobs in state government.
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.
In the Disabilities Rights Vermont suit, federal Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued a blistering preliminary injunction order in August against DCF.
The judge wrote about a video he reviewed as part of the case showing the restraint of a teenage girl at the facility, in which she is naked and streaked with feces.
The judge, in his order, wrote that the incident was “horrific,” and “demonstrates in the space of a few minutes Woodside’s limited ability to care for a child who is experiencing symptoms of serious mental illness.”
DCF has since contended it is updating its policies to conform with national standards regarding the use of restraints and has been training staff.
Also, in addition to new policies and practices, a section of Woodside which had been where youth in “isolation” were kept has been closed down.
Officials said plans called for turning it into a “therapeutic” space for counseling and family visiting. Now, it appears the days may be numbered for Woodside to remain open.
“The writing has been on the wall probably for a year or more,” said Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office represents juveniles.
“I think we’ve learned more about how kids should be treated when you’re trying to keep them from getting into anti-social-type behavior,” Valerio added. “We’ve learned that jail-like settings are not the appropriate way to treat kids.”
As a result, in recent times, he said, more programs have “sprouted” up providing additional community-based services.
“It’s a $6 million facility with nobody in it,” Valerio added of Woodside. “That’s a pretty strong indication that you don’t need it.”
Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, said there was “no question” that the building needs to be closed.
“There’s nothing therapeutic about it at all,” said White, who chairs the Senate Committee on Government Operations and is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The staff there, they do try to make it more pleasant, and not just a cinder block prison,” she added.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, chair of the Senate Institutions Committee, also welcomed the administration’s announcement.
Benning, who also served on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said there was “heavy discussion” about the future of Woodside as the last legislative session wound to a close earlier this year.
“We were all fully aware that there was something that had to be done, whether that was a massive upgrade or complete elimination. I mean, it ran the gamut,” he said.
“The bottom line was we understood over the past several months that the population has been dwindling considerably,” Benning added. “And all of a sudden there’s zero. So the question becomes why do we have a building that we don’t need?”
He said the goal is to have youth in more community-based settings.
“There will probably always be a need for some stronger setting,” Benning said, adding those instances are becoming increasingly rare. Exactly where those youth would go, he added, is hard to say at this point.
“It’s really a case by case basis,” Benning said. “I’m sure it’s going to be a subject of deep discussion with the institutions and the judiciary committees.”
