GOSHEN - Elected officials and union leaders on Thursday protested the state s plan to close a youth detention center that has housed and rehabilitated young criminal offenders for 60 years.
Standing outside the Goshen Secure Center, state Sens. Mike Martucci and James Skoufis and Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus argued the cost-cutting move in Gov. Andrew Cuomo s proposed budget would lose employees their jobs in uncertain times and force offenders to places farther upstate, too far from the families they need for support. I promise you, it s not going to go down without a fight, said Martucci, a Wawayanda Republican.
The Goshen center is one of three youth detention sites in the Hudson Valley and four statewide that Cuomo proposed to close in his budget in January to save $22 million a year. The Office of Children and Family Services, which operates 12 such facilities, says the number of incarcerated youths in New York has plunged by 73 percent since 2010.
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Times Herald-Record
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo would close two mid-Hudson Valley youth centers as part of cuts to the Office of Children and Family Services included in the Fiscal Year 2022 state budget bill.
According to the budget memorandum released on Wednesday, Goshen Secure Center in Orange County and the Red Hook Non-Secure Residential Center in Dutchess County would close on Oct. 1. Both house youth from around the state. Goshen currently houses 31 youth, and Red Hook houses 5, according to OCFS Since 2010, New York State has seen a dramatic 73% reduction in the number of youth in juvenile justice placements, reads a statement issued on Thursday by OCFS. All the facilities slated for closure are significantly underutilized, resulting in significant cost to taxpayers. Any youth still in placement at closure will be transferred to another OCFS facility or residential program as close to their home as possible.