New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is coming under criticism from local unions that staff juvenile justice facilities because he has declared his intent to close them:
Cuomo said the 25 youth prisons where nearly 600 juveniles are incarcerated are ineffective, expensive and kept mainly to preserve jobs. It costs more than $200,000 a year for each juvenile, most far from their downstate homes. Nine out of 10 will later end up back in juvenile custody or prison, he said.
“The reason we continue to keep these children in these programs that aren't serving them but are bilking the taxpayers is that we don't want to lose the state jobs that we would lose if we closed the facilities,” Cuomo said.
“Don't put other people in prison to give some people jobs!” he shouted to the crowd that soon stood applauding.
I don't share conservatives' disdain for public sector unions, but I do think that when union interests collide with the public interest politicians need to act decisively on behalf of the latter. The facilities Cuomo's talking about sound like a nightmare--a report from the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department found that four of the facilities, which were subsequently put under federal oversight, "violate constitutional standards in the areas of protection from harm andmental health care."
Cuomo though, is facing some opposition from a group of Republicans who, unlike their colleagues in Congrees seem to have not abandoned Keynesian stimulus--state legislators:
Lawmakers with detention centers or prisons providing jobs in their districts have defended them.
“Any solution must balance the need to reduce state spending with the need to create good jobs,” said Scott Reif, spokesman for Senate Republicans who this year resumed majority control of that chamber.
I'm fine with government spending to produce jobs, but I'm certain there's a better way to use that money than to prop up facilities where juveniles are likely to be victimized rather than rehabilitated.
