Jail or Treatment Center?
Photo courtesy DCF
Posted 1/12/10
In a fast-moving sequence of protests, new conferences, and press releases on January 5, a controversial state project wound up “on hold” for at least another month, even though it’s been in the pipeline for seven years. At issue is a proposed 18 to 24 bed juvenile treatment center for girls slated for a site on Virginia Avenue in Bridgeport.
Though many supporters and opponents actually agree that the facility is very much needed, location is the sticking point, as it often is in Connecticut. People who live near the proposed site say their neighborhood is residential and should not be home to what they call “a jail”.
Often outspoken State Rep. Christopher Caruso (D-Bridgeport) has been leading the fight against the facility. He said Bridgeport already has too many jails, detention facilities and other “negative” projects and he’s fed up. “We are not just some slobs out there that people can just dump on us and treat us like crap,” Caruso said.
Bridgeport Democratic Mayor Bill Finch was a bit more diplomatic in his opposition to the Virginia Avenue site, which he said is “just a few blocks” from his own home. Finch denied his city was being close-minded. “Bridgeport is an open community, we haven’t said ‘not in my backyard’, we’ve said ‘not in this backyard.’”
Finch claims Bridgeport has proposed alternate sites within the city that could be used for the girls’ facility in areas not near residential streets.
On that point and others, the validity of the old journalism maxim that there are always two sides to every story was proven again.
Susan Hamilton, Commissioner of the state Department of Children and Services, the agency that would run the proposed facility, disagrees with the project’s critics on many points.
She claims two alternate sites suggested by Bridgeport officials are too small for the girls’ facility. The preferred site measures 2.7 acres, while the alternates log in at 1.2 acres, and .75 acres.
Hamilton won’t call the project a jail. She views it as a treatment facility. Though the building would be secure and most girls would be housed behind locked doors, Hamilton said the state would provide significant education and rehab programs not offered at incarceration units.
Critics of the project also charged Republican Gov. Jodi Rell is pushing the preferred site because the design/build contract involved is “a no-bid sweetheart” deal. Hamilton denied that, and said the project has followed all fair contracting rules.
Caruso and other critics charge that the “jail” would ruin a viable city residential neighborhood trying hard to get past the stereotype of Bridgeport as a crime-plagued run-down community. Hamilton rejects that rap, claiming the facility will look more like a school than a prison and she believes it would enhance the neighborhood.
“Maybe it was my naiveté, but I actually thought the neighborhood would be very pleased with what we were building,” Hamilton said. The Commissioner said when she viewed the site; it was “a complete eyesore.” Said Hamilton: “There were syringes, bottles, and vagrants were hanging out on the property.”
In any case, after Caruso and friends staged a news conference, and dropped off a petition of opposition at the governor’s office, and Hamilton held her own briefing for reporters, Rell weighed in a few hours later announcing she’s decided to put the project on hold—at least temporarily.
The State Bond Commission was set to decide the project’s future January 8, but Rell decided to delay the decision by one month “in the hope of locating a suitable alternative location within the city of Bridgeport.”
Caruso said he appreciated the Governor’s time-out, and called the decision “a significant short term victory for the people of Bridgeport.” He said all parties involved should meet “in good faith” and try to find “an appropriate alternative site.”
Rell made it clear Bridgeport must help the state find something viable for the facility. “Perhaps there is still a suitable alternative out there, but time is running out,” she said. “These girls are in need of a suitable treatment site.” Rell noted there’s been no major facility for troubled girls since problem-plagued Long Lane School in Middletown closed in 2003. Hamilton said the new facility is supposed to open in 2011.
“I am asking the Mayor and city officials to provide a list of acceptable alternative locations, including city-owned land, that Bridgeport may be willing to donate,” Rell declared. “The state has a responsibility to these girls,” said the Governor. “They need a place where we can give the help they need to turn their young lives around.”
The governor emphasized that while she is willing to delay the final action for one month, if an acceptable new location cannot be found in agreement between the state and Bridgeport, she will move forward with the original project site at the Bond Commission’s next scheduled meeting.