THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290417
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Allen is expected to send proposal to the Assembly this winter.
Moving violent young criminals from youth centers to a special juvenile prison could cost about $62 million in construction, a state budget analyst said Tuesday.
But officials in the Allen administration, which will likely pitch the proposal to the General Assembly this winter, said the plan would ultimately save the state money by freeing space in the costlier juvenile detention system.
Gov. George F. Allen's Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform is finishing a report that will, among other things, call for a new state prison to house young felons who are convicted as adults. They now are held in juvenile homes with younger and less-violent criminals.
Juvenile delinquents separated from the small percentage of teenagers who commit violent crimes would have a better chance of rehabilitation, the commission maintains. And a juvenile prison could buffer violent youths from the influences of mature, hardened inmates found in regular prisons.
Reform of the juvenile justice system is emerging as a top item on the legislative agenda in the upcoming General Assembly session. Two groups - Allen's and a second named by the Democratic legislature - are studying the merits and drawbacks of the state's philosophy of treating under-age criminals as delinquents, not felons.
Barry Green, an analyst for the state Department of Planning and Budget, said housing violent juveniles in a state prison would require about $17 million in renovations to an old adult center to begin housing violent juveniles there by early 1997. An additional $45 million would be needed to build a new 400-bed prison.
The facilities would require about 25 new employees, an annual increase to the state's prison budget of about $1.5 million, Green said. All the estimated costs are preliminary, and could change depending on where the new center would be built and how large it would be.
Mark Christie, Allen's deputy counsel, said the administration has not decided whether to propose borrowing the money or paying cash. But he said the state will benefit if the plan helps steer inmates away from the costly juvenile system.
The Allen administration is expected to propose laws this winter that would increase the number of teenaged criminals sentenced as adults.
Virginia spends an average of about $18,000 a year on each bed in the state prison system, compared to $40,000 a year for a bed in the juvenile system. The new juvenile center would cost more than an adult prison because of education requirements and other costs, but would not likely approach the cost of a typical juvenile home, Green said. by CNB