Gov. Martin O?Malley and his juvenile services team defended their decision Wednesday to allow the sale of the former Bowling Brook youth facility in Carroll to a for-profit Nevada firm that runs juvenile detention centers.
Under persistent questioning by Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp at the Board of Public Works, Juvenile Services Secretary Donald DeVore said that “no promises have been made” to Rite of Passage Inc. if it was granted a license to operate a facility for young offenders on the site the company is planning to purchase for about $8 million.
A boy died in custody at Bowling Brook in January 2007, and the state shut down the facility shortly afterward. The state has a lien on the site to recover some of the $2 million in grants the state spent to build and improve buildings there.
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, the head of the attorney general?s juvenile justice monitoring unit, and the Advocates for Children and Youth contacted the board, seeking to delay the decision. They are concerned another large youth facility would supplant the operation of smaller, local residential sites they prefer.
“This train is running very, very fast,” said Cameron Miles, of the Advocates for Children and Youth. “This train needs to be slowed down.”
Despite concerns, Kopp sided with O?Malley to approve the sale after gaining assurances from DeVore that any license request would be reviewed thoroughly in light of new laws. Franchot voted against the sale.
The Bowling Brook dust-up delayed and overshadowed a new conference touting the improvements in juvenile service that led the U.S. Justice Department to lift its oversight. DeVore said O?Malley had raised the department?s budget by $76 million and agreed to spend $188 million to build two smaller treatment facilities to replace Hickey and Cheltenham.
