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EYEWITNESS LOCAL NEWS
EASING JAIL OVERCROWDINGfrom Eyewitness News Online Plan To Ease Jail Overcrowding Includes Converting Salem Youth Home To Prison Reported by:  Associated PressWeb Producer: Jeff Morris Reported: Mar. 15, 2013 9:05 AM EDT Updated: Mar. 15, 2013 12:43 PM EDT
Charleston
, Kanawha County
, West Virginia
West Virginia officials have a new plan to ease jail overcrowding that also targets problems at a Harrison County juvenile facility. Tomblin administration officials have proposed converting Salem's Industrial Home for Youth into a minimum- to medium-security adult prison. Officials would move the 49 juveniles in Salem's main unit to other state-run facilities. That would make room for at least 300 lower-risk adult offenders now confined in regional jails. But officials must first find an appropriate facility for 23 juvenile sex offenders housed in a separate building on Salem's campus. They must also win over the judge overseeing the case. The judge held a Friday hearing in a lawsuit alleging targeting conditions at Salem. State corrections officials also expected to brief Salem staff about the plan Friday. Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The state Division of Juvenile Services announced Friday in response to a West Virginia Supreme Court order that that it intends to close the Industrial Home for Youth in Salem as a juvenile facility. The response said the change is part of a larger comprehensive plan by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety to reorganize and better utilize facilities in the Division of Juvenile Services and the Division of Corrections. The governor's office would request the immediate introduction of legislation this legislative session to implement this comprehensive plan, the response said. On Dec. 21, 2012, the state Supreme Court issued an order finding that the physical conditions of Building A of the youth center in Salem were "counterproductive to the goals of juvenile rehabilitation mandated by law" and required action by the Division of Juvenile Services. Friday's response said the Salem youth home's residents would be relocated to existing Division of Juvenile Services facilities based upon individual assessments. In addition, some existing facilities would be altered. The changes would include having the J.M. "Chick" Buckbee Juvenile Center replace the Salem youth home as the maximum-medium security facility for juveniles and modify the mission of the Donald R. Kuhn Center in Boone County to handle the behavioral health unit currently housed at the Salem youth home. The response said the proposed closure of the youth home and comprehensive plan would alleviate the conditions prompting the action by the high court and would more efficiently use existing facilities, programs and resources for juvenile rehabilitation. Under the plan proposed in the response, the Division of Juvenile Services' control over the Salem youth home would end effective July 1. Meanwhile, the Division of Juvenile Services would ensure that the juveniles presently housed there would be transferred to appropriate facilities, the response said. At the status hearing where the response was presented, Circuit Judge Omar Aboulhosn said he wanted to consider the plan presented by the state. A status hearing is scheduled in a lawsuit involving conditions at the West Virginia Industrial Home for Youth in Salem. The hearing was scheduled for Friday in Charleston. It comes weeks after Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and department officials fired the director of the Division of Juvenile Services and appointed a new acting director. A judge last year blasted conditions at the facility, declaring them too prison-like for many youth. Circuit Judge Omar Aboulhosn ordered lawmakers and state officials to renovate the building or remove the juveniles. A lawsuit over the conditions was filed last year in the state Supreme Court, but the court appointed Aboulhosn to oversee the case in Kanawha Circuit Court. Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. MORE NEWS FROM EYEWITNESS NEWS
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