A new national campaign, Youth First, on March 3 released a nationwide roster of the 80 oldest and largest youth prisons in 39 states (including three in Tennessee) and called on the nation’s governors to close these youth prisons.
The campaign states that children in such facilities are frequently subjected to physical abuse, sexual violence, solitary confinement, and excessive use of physical and chemical restraints.
Many such facilities are also geographically isolated and make it difficult or impossible for youths to stay connected to their families and communities.
Three Tennessee prisons are on the list:
- Mountain View Youth Development Center in Dandridge
- John S. Wilder Youth Development Center in Somerville
- Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville
The call for the closure of the facilities comes as governors of three states, Governor Malloy (D-CT), Governor Bruce Rauner (R-IL) and Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) have recently committed to close large, outdated facilities in their states.
“Even though youth incarceration has decreased in the last decade, states are still relying on youth prisons, a relic of an 1820s justice system that is harmful, racially biased and obsolete,” says Liz Ryan, CEO of Youth First. “We applaud Governors Malloy, Rauner and McAuliffe for their commitment to close four of the nation’s largest and oldest youth prisons, and we call on the rest of the nation’s governors to take similar action to end this failed approach to youth justice which has no place in America today.”
To view more details of each of these facilities, go online to youthfirstinitiative.org/the54000/#facilities and use the password “kidsnotprisons.”
A national poll commissioned by the Youth First Initiative and conducted by GBA Strategies this January shows that 92 percent of Americans believe that what is most important is that the juvenile justice system does a better job of making sure youth get back on track so that they are less likely to commit another offense.
Today, several campaigns with bipartisan support are promoting a new model of youth justice in their states. These campaigns aim to replace youth prisons with successful, research-based programs that are far more effective at rehabilitating youth, and which cost an average of only $75 per day per youth, compared to $241 per day per youth for incarceration.
For additional data on incarcerated youth, their race and gender, the impact on youth, their families and state budgets, visit youthfirstinitiative.org/the54000.
