The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

State Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, managed to secure funds in the state budget to study the facility’s future and announced the development Wednesday.

Legislation approved Wednesday directs that a study compare the effectiveness of residential vs. community-based treatment for juveniles — the latter, a new approach recommended in former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer’s executive order carrying out a plan to close Great Valley and several other juvenile treatment facilities in 2009.

The study will take three years, with an interim report delivered to Albany in 2009. Young promised to convene a task force of community leaders if the study makes an alternative recommendation.

The possibility of Great Valley’s closing triggered a push in February by the Cattaraugus County Legislature, employees, residents and town officials to keep the facility open. County legislators backed converting it to a limited secure facility as a stopgap measure.

Opponents of the closing have listed several economic reasons why the facility should remain open. The annual payroll is about $1.4 million — it is one of the area’s largest employers — and an estimated $400,000 is spent annually on local services. The state has invested about $1.2 million in infrastructure upgrades in recent years.

Many local residents argued that a local facility should be available to treat the area’s youth, instead of somewhere else in the state. A similar foster-care facility for juveniles is operating in Limestone, and they are the only treatment centers in Western New York.

“After carefully reviewing data supplied by the state Office of Children and Family Services, and listening to the community, we decided the best solution is to keep the center the way it is for now,” said Young, who is also a member of the Human Services Conference Committee.

She called for evidence before changes are made and demanded to see that the new juvenile justice system and proposed treatments will work and that recidivism rates will improve.

Great Valley Supervisor Dan Brown said the move will keep money and jobs in the community.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/319859.html