By Joe Hirsch
The Bridges Youth Detention Center on Spofford Avenue should be closed, says the city’s Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.
Formerly known simply as Spofford, the juvenile jail is a waste of taxpayer money, Gotbaum said.
The 129-bed facility is underused, according to the public advocate. Moreover, it inadvertently turns some detainees into gang members, she said, in a report based on interviews with young people, some of whom have served time there.
Gotbaum detailed her findings from roundtable discussions she held earlier this year with Bronx and Brooklyn youth to better understand how the city can reduce the influence of gangs.
Gang-motivated crimes continue to rise despite relatively low overall crime rates, according to the New York Police Department.
“One thing some gang members told us is that their gang affiliation actually began in juvenile detention,” Gotbaum said.
Closing Bridges would allow $14 million now spent on it to be shifted to cheaper alternative-to-incarceration programs that reform advocates claim are more effective than jail at keeping repeat rates for young offenders down, the report said.
The report also contends the detention center is hard to get to. Family members of those locked up there find it difficult to visit, it says.
Advocates for juvenile justice reform agree that closing the facility makes economic sense and alternative-to-detention programs would be more effective at preventing young offenders from committing more crimes.
“As juvenile detention and incarceration costs skyrocket, it defies logic to maintain Spofford,” said Charisa A. Smith, director of the Juvenile Justice Project, a non-profit organization that monitors city prison conditions and policies.
Smith contends that a bed at Bridges can cost more than $214,000 per year, and that it exposes the young people confined there to violence and depression. On the other hand, Smith said, “A good alternative program can produce outstanding results for around $15,000 per year per youth.”
The Department of Juvenile Justice disagrees with the report’s findings, however. “The savings would be a fraction of the figure presented,” said spokesman Scott Trent, who said the Public Advocate didn’t take into account many cost factors, including detention center staffing costs and the expense of the intake process, which would simply be shifted from Bridges—where all young offenders are now processed—to another facility.
Trent also questioned the report’s claim Bridges is under capacity.
The juvenile justice department administers Bridges and two other juvenile detention centers, Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn and Horizon Juvenile Center in Mott Haven. The three facilities provide a total of 383 beds available for youthful offenders. Closing Bridges would leave the city short of the beds needed to detain youthful offenders on any given day, Trent said.
Still, his agency is looking to reduce incarceration rates, and says it has made some progress in that direction.
In addition to closing Bridges, the Public Advocate’s report also calls for a review of community policing strategies; creating a fund to preserve and expand youth programming; creating a youth programming guide and Website to keep youth and parents informed; creating opportunities for youth to participate in violence prevention efforts; and producing a Youth Manifesto expressing beliefs, rights, goals, and specific measures for improving police and community relations in the city.