SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A bipartisan legislative oversight panel has voted against Gov. Bruce Rauner’s plan to close the youth detention center in Kewanee.
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, which includes House Co-Chair Don Moffitt, voted 5-6 against shuttering the facility, which opened in 2001. The decision is advisory.
Candice Jones is director of the Department of Juvenile Justice. She says there are 420 young people detained in the system, which has room for 1,000. She argues that Kewanee is too far from family members, job openings, skills training, and necessary mental health services. It’s 150 miles southwest of Chicago.
Peoria Republican state Sen. Chuck Weaver and Democratic state Rep. Mike Smiddy from Hillsdale argued Kewanee is the newest of youth centers and the most efficient to operate.
