Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, plans to introduce legislation that would limit the size of any new juvenile correctional center to 30 beds.
It’s a proposal from the advocacy group Rise for Youth, which says Virginia needs to move away from incarcerating youth in large facilities. Smaller ones, located closer to where incarcerated youth live, would clear the way for better treatment for young offenders and less recidivism, the group says.
The state’s Department of Juvenile Justice wants to replace its large youth correctional center west of Richmond — with more than 260 beds — with smaller, regional and treatment-oriented lock-ups around the state, and provide more education, training, athletics, counseling and other services to help young inmates reform.
Rise for Youth joined with Isle of Wight County residents to kill the department’s bid to open a replacement facility, of 70 beds, to house youth from Hampton Roads and eastern Virginia. That proposal was to be a first step toward closing Bon Air and replacing it with smaller regional facilities. The department has also been housing some young offenders in local detention centers in their home cities and counties.
It closed the last of its other juvenile prisons in 2017, and used the funds freed up from that to vastly expand community services.
Ward said Virginia incarcerates too many minority youth and needs to work harder to offer the kind of education and employment opportunities that keep young people from being tempted to crime.
A recent study by the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis and Rise for Youth found that while 21% of Virginia teens are African Americans, 72% of the youth in DJJ custody are African American.
Shad Plank is the Daily Press blog that tracks Virginia politics. It takes its name from the traditional Shad Planking political get-together, though hopefully it is tastier than the roasted fish featured at that Sussex County event. To contact Dave Ress with tips or questions, call 757-247-4535 or email dress@dailypress.com.
