Proposed youth jail step closer to reality

FORT FRANCES—The proposed youth justice facility announced by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services earlier this summer came another step closer to reality here following a public information session Tuesday night.
The Ontario Realty Corp. (ORC) hosted an open house at Fort Frances High School as part of the category ‘B’ class environmental assessment process to provide the public with an opportunity to get an update on the proposed facility, ask questions, and provide feedback.
“In the interim from the time of our last meeting [held July 24 at the Civic Centre], there’s been a number of things we’ve been working on in the background, mostly site due diligence-related—archaeological studies, environmental assessments, things that we need to do to make sure the site is appropriate for constructing a facility of this type,” said ORC project director Jason Fellen, noting there’s been “no roadblocks and no major concerns at this point.”
“We’ve also been working on the design of the actual building, where it might be situated,” he added. “We’ve been working with both the town as well as local aboriginal representatives to help design what the facility might look like.
“So they’ve basically done preliminary design work to say what this building might look like once it’s constructed,” continued Fellen. “But as part of this process, we gather feedback and allow everyone to provide their comments, and we look to respond to those.”
Preliminary designs for the facility were on display at last night’s open house.
The proposed youth facility, to be located on Eighth Street between Christie Avenue North and Smith Avenue, will be a single-story building with a “footprint” of about 20,000 sq. ft.
It will house up to 12 youths (aged 12-18), and have security measures consistent with provincial standards.
The facility, which will be connected to municipal services, will be surrounded by access, parking, and recreation areas.
Fellen noted feedback from the July meeting was taken into consideration at this stage of the design.
For instance, to make the facility as inconspicuous as possible, it will be set back 150 feet from Eighth Street, with trees planted along the road to provide a “natural barrier.”
Even the main access point is located as far away from Christie Street as possible.
Construction, which is expected to start next winter, will include tree removal and grading of the site; installation of temporary road access; installation of temporary trailers and fencing; excavation for footings, foundation, and site services; building construction; construction of recreations; and finally the paving of the parking lots and permanent access road.
During construction, dust, noise, vibrations, and water generation will try to be minimized while any habitat loss (i.e., trees) resulting from the work will be re-vegetated with native species.
Following last night’s meeting, the next step will be for the ORC to allow two weeks for the public’s input (the deadline is Nov. 13) and then complete the documentation of the environmental assessment.
That, in turn, will be posted for public review on the ORC’s website (www.orc.ca) in November/December.
The assessment process is expected be completed by sometime in December or January.
Construction of the facility, if approved, will begin in the winter of 2008, with the facility operational in spring, 2009.
The facility will be run by an aboriginal service provider that still has to be determined. It’s not known at this time how many people will be employed there, as that will be part of the staffing model proposed by whichever service provider ends up being chosen.
Don Poynter, capital projects manager with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, shed some light on the purpose of the proposed facility, explaining the objective of the facility is not to punish youth, but for them to be detained there under order of the court to help get them on the right path while they’re still in their formative years.
In youth justice, one of the primary focuses is “relationship custody,” or having a youth services officer dedicated to each youth in custody to ensure those youth undergo treatment suited to them and see them “progress in a positive manner.”
“Our focus very much is having a structured, positive process that helps that youth develop, to the point where hopefully they become a productive member of society,” said Poynter.
“If we can impact them at 12, 14, 16, even 18 years of age, and get them out of the cycle of the criminal subculture, we save a lot of criminal activity for many, many years to come.
“We save an incredible amount of expense both in the court system, in policing, and, ultimately, in prisons, where we’d end up accommodating these people is we can’t break that criminal-genic cycle,” he stressed.
Poynter noted the facility not only will house up to 12 youths in secure custody, but attend to their educational, recreational, and spiritual needs. These services will be provided within the perimeter security.
The facility also will include offices for social workers, psychologists, and other related professionals to help the youths.
Poynter said security should not be a concern for area residents as the youths there will be strictly supervised at all times, and only under rare circumstances (such as being transported to the hospital) would they even leave the perimeter security.
And even then, they would be supervised.
While it is possible for youth to escape such a facility, Poynter said it is “extremely rare,” and would result in a substantial investigation to prevent it from ever happening again.
“I understand people’s fear,” he noted, adding a lot of people’s perceptions of escapes is based on TV and movies and “far removed from reality.”
“I would suggest that this does not, in any way, increase the risk of living in this community,” stressed Poynter, referring to the proposed youth justice facility.
Having worked in first adult corrections and then youth justice for 33 years, at every level from being a prison guard to a prison superintendent, Poynter said his experience is that these kind of facilities become a valuable part of the community.
“In adult corrections, we’ve gone through a period in the last 15 years of consolidation—closing smaller facilities and building larger ones—and every time we’re confronted with closing a small jail . . . nobody’s saying, ‘I’m glad that’s gone.’
“It’s the exact opposite. There’s incredible pressure to keep it open,” he said.
“This will be the same thing. Five years from now, the anxiety will have dissipated and it will just be seen as another very secure and contributing industry within this community,” added Poynter.
“That’s my historical experience, and I’m confident saying that’s the experience people will have in Fort Frances.”
(Fort Frances Times)