You asked (1) why the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS) is not at full capacity and if there are any plans to use it at full capacity, (2) what the school's current census is, (3) if any boys are being housed out-of-state instead of at CJTS, (4) if there are plans to close CJTS, and (5) if CJTS is closed, what will be done with it and its residents.

According to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), CJTS is not operating at its full capacity of 240 youths because the extra capacity has not been needed. Historically, the census has been at about 120 to 140. As of February 26, 2007 the count is 95 boys according to staff members at the school.

OPM stated that it was unlikely that the CJTS census would increase. Instead, there are plans to close the school. It was originally hoped the school would close in 2008, but because no bonding was authorized to provide for building three or four treatment and reintegration centers (TRECs) to house the school's residents, the closing could not proceed. There is $ 5 million in the current bonding bill (SB 1119) to pay for siting, designing, and constructing three or four TRECs, placed around the state, each with a capacity of 25 or 30, which could fluctuate due to design changes.

The Department of Children and Families has not, to date, provided information about whether boys are being housed out-of-state instead of at CJTS. When they provide us with this information, we will forward it to you.

According to Doug Moore, Chief of Staff at the Department of Public Works (DPW), the department issued a report on October 27, 2005 listing several options for the facility. DPW recommended a plan for a multi-agency complex. The plan included:

1. relocating the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security from its current offices and moving the emergency operations center;

2. placing a back-up computer programming network facility for the Department of Information Technology;

3. using the portion of CJTS that is currently a vocational-technical school at CJTS as a vocational-technical school for nurse's assistants, which would help ease the health care worker shortage;

4. moving a Department of Mental Retardation regional office from leased office space in Middletown; and

5. upgrading the kitchens, which would then serve all of the facilities and serve neighboring Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH), which needs to have its kitchen facilities renovated.

DPW has not used this plan since CJTS remains open.