Broken juvenile justice system wastes millions
Sunday, February 10th 2008, 4:00 AM


New York State's juvenile justice system is an expensive, dismal failure that does great harm to children and families without making our neighborhoods safer.
That indictment comes from Gladys Carrión, who as commissioner of the Office of Children & Family Services is in charge of 35 juvenile detention facilities that hold 2,000 or so kids under 16 who have committed what would be criminal acts if they were adults.
A staggering 80% of the youngsters who enter New York's juvenile facilities end up returning or graduating to adult prisons within three years - a recidivism rate higher than the 60% in the adult criminal justice system.
Taxpayers are shelling out top dollar for that 80% failure rate: In some facilities, it works out to a mind-boggling $200,000 a year per juvenile inmate.
"I don't say this proudly: We preside over a pipeline to prison," Carrión recently said at a panel sponsored by New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
In a world where government officials normally go to great lengths to shift blame and hide problems from the public, Carrión's candor is a breath of fresh air.
The damning statistics she recently published in a report titled "Empty Beds, Wasted Dollars" make the strongest argument for shutting down many of New York's juvenile jails and putting the money saved into safe, intelligent, proven alternatives to incarceration.
There's no question that some youth offenders are terribly dangerous and need to be behind bars. But most require care, not custody - a level of education, guidance and health treatment that's missing from many detention facilities.
"Over 80% of young people in my system have mental health issues of clinical significance," says Carrión. "I don't get to keep these young people forever. They are going to return to our communities."
Carrión is calling for more teachers, counselors and health professionals. And she has a perfect way to pay for it: Shut down the state's half-empty facilities.
"We continue to pay for empty beds at annual costs from $140,000 to $200,000 each. Nearly a dozen of the state's youth facilities are operating under 40% of capacity," Carrión's report says.
Shutting down six of the least-used juvenile jails would save an estimated $14 million, says Carrión, money better spent on beefed-up services provided by community organizations - a model used in states like Missouri, which cut recidivism to 30%.
Criminal justice experts say Carrión's approach holds great promise. "We need to find a way to reinvest this money and get it into communities where it belongs," says Ellen Schall, dean of the Wagner School, a former commissioner of the city's Department of Juvenile Justice.
"I've never seen a more politically opportune moment," says Meredith Wiley, the New York director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national organization of police chiefs and other law enforcement agencies.
Calling for reform is easy. Making it happen is not.
By law, Carrión has to give a year's notice before shutting down a juvenile jail, creating absurdities like the Auburn Residential Center, which has 24 beds - and 25 full-time positions that can't be cut - but only three children.
Great Valley, a limited security home for boys, has 25 beds but only nine kids.
The state will continue wasting money on these and four other underused sites for at least one more year, in part because upstate lawmakers, who see jails as a source of local jobs, have a perverse incentive to keep facilities open - no matter how empty and inefficient they may be.
Real reform would be to change the law so that Carrión can shutter these jails immediately and spend the savings on programs for troubled kids that actually work.
elouis@nydailynews.com

First off let me raise my fist to Gladys Carrión. She is to be commended for her courage. I am surprised though that the criminal justice system left such a wide open view as to what our current system really stands for, the almighty dollar.I don't remember what prison I was in at the time, but I remember getting my hands on an officers newspaper one day. Keep in mind amongst ourselves we prisoners always knew we were there because the system was about making money. They are about making money more than fighting crime or what ever you want to call it. Anyway in this newspaper was an article about two towns in upstate New York that were engaged in a battle over what town was going to have the newest prison built in. They were looking at the revenue the prison would bring in for the city, the article made me sick for real. They never once referenced to the occupants of the future prison beds as human beings. Just as Wal-Mart rolls into these poverty stricken rural towns promising a resurrection in their economy so do prisons make these very same promises. Only thing is, they never mention how they plan on filling them beds, and maintaining them filled once the prison is opened. They spend billions of dollars a year fighting crime, one would think by now this war against crime and against drugs should be getting won by now. It's not making a difference at all it's not hard to tell. All you have to do is a little bit of research, then talk about it, speak up because you will find out what's going on is fucked up. There are no better words for me to use, things are fucked up. In my days coming up, they would have never let their guard down as they did here referring to the criminal justice system. In most situations such as this, empty prison space, they usually call for sweeps, or raids on the streets. Most police precincts or districts have yearly raids. this is to maintain the flow of prisoners, maintaining a healthy flow of income for a small portion of society. The proof is right here in this article. They don't mention what is best for the children, this is coming from those that preach "NOT ONE LEFT BEHIND!" yea my ass. And all in your face it say's your tax dollars are basically just being spent to maintain this small populations livelihood this is like up-town welfare at the expense of young lives. We have the balls to speak on third world countries running sweat shops when at least they pay the children something as they make a profit off of them. Here in America they just warehouse bodies and charge citizens millions while the streets are no more safer than they were 10 years ago. They are just training these kids to be recaptured. I encourage everyone to hit that link above and send a letter giving Gladys Carrión proper praise and to also call for the immediate closing of these empty facilities. Let's take the power that is rightfully the peoples. One love, one struggle. "X"