A tidal wave of change is headed for the state’s juvenile justice system. Here are 5 things to know about the coming changes.
Pueblo Unit
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The real reason to close the Connecticut Juvenile Training School
The Connecticut Juvenile Training School and the Pueblo Unit should close. Institutions of this sort, by their very nature, inevitably depersonalize children, engender abuse and fail to address public safety. I know because I used to run one.
Posted inEducation, Politics
7 hours of video released from inside CJTS and Pueblo Unit
Under fire for what has been called improper restraint and seclusion of youths at state-run juvenile correctional facilities, the Department of Children and Families has released nearly seven hours of surveillance video in an effort to provide the public a more complete picture of its operations.
Posted inEducation
DCF commissioner tells legislators: Don’t close juvenile jails
Under fire over questions about how youths are treated while incarcerated — and facing calls from advocates to close the state’s juvenile jails in Middletown — Department of Children and Families Commissioner Wednesday reaffirmed her commitment to keeping the locked facilities she runs open.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s juvenile detention program needs reform
Sexual abuse. Physical abuse. Emotional abuse. Neglect. Sex Trafficking. Community violence. Violent deaths of family and friends.
This is just a partial list of the traumas that many – if not most – youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system in Connecticut have experienced in their short lives. No wonder that they become willing to act “by any means necessary” in order to survive and protect those close to them — even if this lands them in juvenile prisons such as the Department of Children and Families’ Training School for boys and Pueblo Unit for girls.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Call for DCF’s Katz to resign is about children, not politics
Recent reports concerning the Department of Children and Families, along with Commissioner Joette Katz’s long history of failure, misplaced priorities and lack of transparency and accountability, leave me with no confidence in her willingness or ability to openly and seriously confront critical issues within her agency. That’s why I felt compelled to call for her resignation.
Posted inEducation
Op-Ed: For Josh’s sake and Jane’s, can DCF listen to others?
The Connecticut Department of Children and Families should stop and listen to experts within and beyond our borders who are offering the help that Connecticut’s children need.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: For Josh’s sake and Jane’s, can DCF listen to others?
The Connecticut Department of Children and Families should stop and listen to experts within and beyond our borders who are offering the help that Connecticut’s children need.