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O’Malley, team defend sale of former troubled youth facility
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - 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.
llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:36 AM MST on Mon., Jun. 30, 2008 re: "O’Malley, team defend sale of former troubled youth facility"
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9:03 AM MST on Fri., Jun. 27, 2008
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5:02 AM MST on Fri., Jun. 27, 2008
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2:13 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 26, 2008
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12:10 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 26, 2008
re: "State eyes selling Bowling Brook to Nevada-based Rite of Passage"
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10:06 AM MST on Tue., May. 20, 2008
re: "Family of teen killed at Bowling Brook files $207M suit"
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3:33 PM MST on Fri., May. 16, 2008
re: "Family of teen killed at Bowling Brook files $207M suit"
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5:57 AM MST on Fri., May. 16, 2008
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9:29 PM MST on Thu., May. 15, 2008
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9:55 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 4, 2008
re: "Bowling Brook staff members turn themselves in to police"
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7:07 AM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008
re: "Counselors want charges dismissed"
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7:29 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 2, 2008
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5:50 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 2, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
Follow the money. O'Malley is dirty.
3 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Owe'Malley is a liar. He lies about helping working families, he lies about lowering BG&E and he lied about stopping the LNG plant.
3 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
No kidding. O'Malley defends his heartless, corrupt, decision.
2 agree | 2 disagree
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johnn said:
remember thease words there coming to get you martin,and soon !and all your flunkys,shelia,shawn malone,miller,and bush
4 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
hey, martha! get me rewrite (and no-doz)! At today’s Board of Public Works meeting, the state is proposing to sell the former Bowling Brook juvenile facility where a youth died in custody this past year to a Nevada-based group that runs juvenile facilities
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
this is so stupid. they just want to get rich, there have been other cases but the money being asked for is around 25 million. this is the most amount of mony i have ever seen being asked for over a death in school. if they win this money then it's like they win the lottery. that money could be put to better use than to molify the parents loss.
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
“They stole possibilities. They stole opportunities. They stole his life.” Darn, they stole the chance for him to be released and commit more of the same crimes that put him there. Boo Hoo
5 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Can we get a little background on the teen? This story is light on details, we need more before forming an opinion. I'm assuming that they didn't just start restraining him for no reason.
4 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
suing for 1 million for each minute their son suffered? That's so lame, they're just trying to get rich. Losers, they raised the child baldy and expect to get paid for it? No way, they don't deserve that much money.
4 agree | 4 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This is a well know peer from the school and I think that they should be charged for killing that boy because they dont listen to people when they say that the stuff that they be doing hurt really bad.It hurt so bad that you feel like your dead,and also they ceature the problem just so they can put you throw that kind of pain.So with that being said I think that they should get atleast 25 to 50 years a peace.But I can say this MR.Dennis was a good person and he would not try to hurt anyone.Thank you for your time.(P.S DO THE RIGHT THING AND PUT THEM AWAY)
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Independent Marylander said:
The "court of public opinion" is a little short on facts. The Grand Jury indicted based on the facts presented after the investigation of the incident. Soon there will be a trial to determine whether the facts merit a finding of guilt or acquittal. The standard for guilt is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and to a moral certainty." Anything short results in a finding of "not guilty." This is our system...live with it.
67 agree | 71 disagree
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The Undertaker said:
They want the charges dismissed. And I want a million dollars and the girl that I am obsessed with to love me.
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Examiner Reader said:
They should be charged with first degree murder.END OF STORY
67 agree | 72 disagree
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