According to this story, the Office Of Juvenile Affairs is going to build two new facilities for youth offenders, one in Ada and one in Tecumseh. The Tecumseh facility will replace the aging Rader Center in Sand Springs. It will cost approximately $10mm a year to operate the facilities. There's little doubt in my mind combining the two facilities into one would save taxpayers a fair amount of money, in case you are not up on your central Oklahoma geography, Ada and Tecumseh are only 42 miles apart. I can really see no good reason we need the operational cost of two separate facilities, you can house both maximum and minimum security on the same piece of property.
This is a prime example of Oklahoma's wasteful trend of decentralization of services when it comes to corrections, higher ed, and other gov't services.
"OKLAHOMA CITY - The Office of Juvenile Affairs on Tuesday announced a contract to build new facilities in Ada and Tecumseh.
The agency said that on Dec. 6 it will sign a contract with the Ada Youth Academy Authority to build and operate a 144-bed youth academy on 65 acres in Ada. The Ada authority has chosen Rite of Passage of Nevada to operate the facility, which is expected to begin operating in mid-2012.
The plan includes the construction of 56 maximum-security beds at the Central Oklahoma Juvenile Facility in Tecumseh. A public trust in Pottawatomie County will do the funding for that facility, said OJA Director Gene Christian. It will also be operational in mid-2012.
The new Tecumseh beds will house the agency's Diagnostic and Evaluation Center, Intensive Treatment Program, Sex Offender Unit and Segregation Unit. It will be operated by state employees and OJA. "
Read more from this Tulsa World article at
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=20101124_16_A1_OKLAHO440201&archive=yes
