Governor Pat McCrory and officials with the Department of Public Safety today during an open house offered community leaders and elected officials their first view of the renovated Edgecombe Youth Development Center in Rocky Mount. Officials with the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice will open the new center on April 25 to provide safer, more secure and efficient care for committed youth in North Carolina.
“I firmly believe that everyone deserves a chance to fulfill their potential, something that my parents instilled in me growing up,” said Governor McCrory. “The reopening of this innovative youth development center will provide proven and cutting-edge education, treatment and mental health services to young people in our juvenile justice system based on their individual needs for a successful transition back in to our communities.”
Concurrent with the opening of Edgecombe YDC comes the closure of C.A. Dillon YDC in Butner, which opened in 1968. This action marks a key phase of the 2014 Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan.
“The Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan calls for the closure of older, more antiquated facilities in favor of newer, safer, more efficient buildings,” said Secretary Frank L. Perry of the Department of Public Safety. “Edgecombe Youth Development Center’s self-contained setting allows a more therapy-driven approach to treatment and care, while providing a safer and more secure environment for juveniles, staff and the public than is possible at C.A. Dillon.”
Edgecombe Youth Development Center will begin official operations on April 25. In order to fully staff the facility, more than 30 new employees will be hired. Including Edgecombe, the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice operates four youth development centers statewide.
Youth development centers are secure facilities that provide education and treatment services to prepare committed youth to successfully transition to a community setting. This type of commitment is the most restrictive, intensive sanction and service that a court can order for a juvenile in North Carolina. The structure of the juvenile code limits this sanction to those juveniles who have been adjudicated for violent or serious offenses or who have a lengthy delinquency history.