COLCHESTER, Vt. (AP) - More than a year after a juvenile detention facility effectively closed, the state is moving forward with a plan to demolish it and replace it with a therapeutic facility for adults needing acute care.
The new $16 million facility will include 16 acute care beds for adults and will replace a different adult facility that officials say is inadequate, WCAX-TV reported on Thursday.
The state is negotiating a contract with Becket Family Services, which is based in New Hampshire, to build a new, six-bed facility in Newbury for juveniles by the end of 2021, the station reported.
The Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center was Vermont’s only detention center for minors but it has been empty since November 2019. It closed after a disability right’s group sued the facility over its use of restraints and solitary confinement.
Steve Howard, head of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, said the system for violent juveniles is in chaos and said the Newbury facility might not be sufficient to take care of the most violent youth.
“The system that the administration promised, the Legislature promised Vermonters would be in place once Woodside closed never got stood up, it doesn’t exist. And as a result, we have total chaos in the system,” he said.
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