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CT Should Close Troubled Youth Jails, Find Better Alternative [cid:[log in to unmask]] Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wants to close the troubled Connecticut Juvenile Training School and its sister jail, the Pueblo Unit for girls, by 2018. (Cloe Poisson / Hartford Courant) Editorial: Yes, CT's Juvenile Training School and Pueblo Unit should close. Now what? #CTJS Gov. Dannel P. Malloy<http://www.courant.com/topic/politics-government/government/dannel-malloy-PEPLT00007625-topic.html>'s announcement that he wants the Connecticut Juvenile Training School closed is welcome news. The Middletown "school" — actually a jail — and its sister facility, Pueblo Unit for girls, are run by the state Department of Children and Families. Their recent past has been troubling, and as an inside-the-facility report by The Courant's Josh Kovner<http://www.courant.com/hc-josh-kovner-staff.html> recently showed, the future of the CJTS is none too bright. Earlier this year, videos were released showing DCF employees there grabbing teenage residents, restraining them face down on the ground and putting them in shackles. Due in part to staff injuries, employees at the two locked units sometimes have worked 16-hour shifts, leading to increasing amounts of overtime pay. A coalition of human rights advocacy groups has said the actions at the facilities are "decades behind best practices." If the governor has his way, CJTS will be closed by mid-2018. "I think it's the wrong facility [for housing troubled youth]," Mr. Malloy told radio station WNPR. Pueblo is also included in the plan. There are now fewer than 70 young people at the units — three-quarters of 1 percent of those in the juvenile justice system. It's past time to find more appropriate ways to incarcerate and, if possible, rehabilitate them. Now the question is: What are those ways? As Mr. Kovner noted in his report, "these are the most troubled teenagers in Connecticut." For them, the usual solutions for teens in trouble, such as substance abuse counseling and mental health rehabilitative services, have failed. They are in CJTS and Pueblo because they are at risk of harming themselves or others and have no other place to go. Gov. Malloy said that he will not approve of simply transferring those in Middletown to Cheshire's Manson Youth Correctional Institution, where criminals younger than 21 are housed. What is essential is a community-oriented system of smaller secure facilities. Finding or creating appropriate places, says the governor, "is not going to be easy." True enough, but committing to close CJTS is a good first step. http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-closing-juvenile-training-school-is-necessary-20151223-story.html