Middletown Mayor Domenique Thornton visited state officials on Monday, Apr. 18 to reiterate her opposition to the creation of an adult jail on the Connecticut Valley Hospital campus, located off of route nine’s exit 12. The proposed site for the jail is the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, a high-security center for boys, which may close imminently.

“This is totally unacceptable,” Thornton said. “We went to the governor’s office because she is looking for suggestions. Before the advisors come up with a solution, we wanted to tell them what we thought, and they were receptive to those ideas.”

Thornton met with Department of Children and Families (DCF) Commissioner Darlene Dunbar, DCF head of juvenile services Donald DeVore, and the legislative liaison for Governor Rell, Brenda Cisco.

However, the state is responsible for the operation of the facility and will make the final decision of how to use the building.

“The best solution is to make the building into a corporate center,” Thorton said. “There is a local employer who doesn’t have enough space and could make great use of the building. The second alternative is to use the building for secondary education, specifically as a science and technology-magnet high school or a maritime-magnet high school.”

According to the mayor, 120 students go to a science and technology middle school in Meriden, but there is no place to continue this concentration when they move onto high school. A maritime-magnet also appeals to Thornton because such high schools have been very successful in New Haven and New London.

The third favorable option would be to transform the building into a nursing school. Thornton feels that this use would be compatible with the needs of the city.

The DCF has until Aug. 1 to submit a report to the governor containing a plan for the future of the facility.

“Maybe they will not choose to close the juvenile center, but we wanted to be there at the beginning of this process to offer our recommendations,” Thornton said.

The Connecticut Juvenile Training School is a $57 million high-security center for boys with a staff of 365 workers. The facility has a 240-bed capacity, but currently, only 64 boys live there. The state is spending more than $500,000 per year for each resident, according to the Hartford Courant. The building attracts attention because it is underused.

Before moving to its current location, the Connecticut Juvenile Training School was located on Long Lane Road.

“The biggest hurdle Wesleyan students had to face was when this facility was previously located on Long Lane,” Thorton said. “The city of Middletown supported getting it out of there and supported the Wesleyan initiative to acquire an additional 150 acres of land.”

Wesleyan acquired the property in 2000, and the juvenile facility was relocated to the Connecticut Valley Hospital campus.

One neighborhood organization, Residents Against Institutional Dumping (RAID), has also been active in fighting against the creation of a jail. They have been involved since the mid-1990s when a RAID representative was appointed to the advisory board that monitored the consolidation of the state’s psychiatric facilities.

According to Thornton, RAID and other local groups stand aligned with her position.