HARTFORD — Eight-time Grammy Award winning singer John Legend took to Twitter to thank Governor Dannel Malloy for closing the Connecticut Juvenile Training School and “rethinking our approach to juvenile justice.”
On Thursday, Governor Malloy released a statement announcing the closure of the to CJTS, making Connecticut the first state to close all youth prisons.
The state facility houses boys, described as “delinquent”, and committed to the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The number of youths housed at CJTS had dropped significantly due to a declining rate of juvenile and young adult arrests, record low crime rate, and the impact of Governor Malloy’s criminal justice reforms, Malloy said in the statement.
Governor Malloy referred to the training school as “an ill-advised and costly relic of the Rowland era”, stating “it placed young boys in a prison-like facility, making rehabilitation, healing, and growth more challenging.”
Malloy emphasized that the closure of the training school wasn’t a celebratory moment, but rather, “a time to reflect on the past mistakes made when it comes to juvenile justice, and an opportunity to create a system that better serves our young people and society as a whole.”
