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Letter: Closing juvenile prisons makes sense for Illinois
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Illinois has made tremendous progress over the past decade in cutting the number of youth held in state prisons, by investing in alternatives that improve public safety, decrease recidivism and cut costs for taxpayers. Gov. Pat Quinn wants to close a number of state facilities including two juvenile correctional facilities. This would be another step in the right direction. State lawmakers are expected to decide in the next two weeks whether to go along with the plan. The case for closing the juvenile facilities is particularly strong. The state's investment in and commitment to community based alternatives to incarceration, like Redeploy Illinois, has helped to cut the youth prison population from 1,900 to less than 980 over the past 10 years. From 2005 to 2011, Redeploy Illinois has saved the state at least $40 million in incarceration costs. Thanks to these interventions, youth prisons are operating well below capacity. Closing the juvenile prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro, which is already empty, could save t $14 million in the current fiscal year and an estimated $27 million annually. It costs taxpayers over $85,000 annually to house a youth in prison. But it's not just about the dollars saved; juvenile prisons have an unacceptably high failure rate with half the youth returning within three years. Community based alternatives are dramatically more successful at preventing youth from reoffending -- at far less cost. Seventeen states have closed over 50 juvenile prisons in the last five years with good results, including decreased repeat offending and lowered costs. Downsizing our state's costly investment in juvenile prisons and shifting to community-based alternatives -- especially for low level offending youth -- makes fiscal and public safety sense. Elizabeth Clarke, president, Juvenile Justice Initiative 
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Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: On Monday the 11th inst. on Center Ridge in Mercer County,some citizens got out their cannon to celebrate the taking of Richmond. The gun wasoverloaded and burst. No one was injured, but one 30-pound piece went though thesecond story of a house.
1888 -- 125 years ago: The old folks concert at the Harper Theater last night to benefit St.Luke's Cottage Hospital, attracted a large audience.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Unless depredation by vandals in Rock Island parks is halted,special policemen will be assigned to night duty to protect the flowers and other property.
1938 -- 75 years ago: Station WHBF has received a special citation from Washington forits participation in Air Mail Week, which was observed this week throughout the nation.
1963 -- 50 years ago: A 10-year high in employment in the Quad-City area was reachedat the end of the last quarter, according to an industrial employment barometer releasedtoday.
1988 -- 25 years ago: Pee Wee teams will be able to play baseball and softball as usualon Diamond Three at Dorrance Park this summer, but after that, the ball field is doomed.County crews have put the diamond back in shape after heavy trucks marred the playingfield earlier this spring. Illinois Department of Transportation crews drove onto it to makeborings for the relocation of the junction of Illinois 84 and the Port Byron-Hillsdale road.
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