Rell told she can't close High Meadows

Hartford (AP) - Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Tuesday that $15 million in bonding is expected to be approved for the design and construction of a new detention facility in Bridgeport for delinquent females.

It's a facility that Connecticut has lacked since 2003.

The State Bond Commission, which Rell oversees, is scheduled to meet Friday to vote on the funding for the 18- to 24-bed facility.

Separately, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal released a legal opinion that says the Rell administration cannot close High Meadows, a state-run residential facility in Hamden for boys with severe behavioral and emotional problems.

Blumenthal said the General Assembly specifically restored funding in the state budget for High Meadows and clearly intended that the 43-bed facility, which serves boys ages 12 to 17, should remain open.

"Closing this long-standing facility is absolutely barred by plain language and crystal clear legislative intent," he said. "The budget approved by the legislature and signed by the governor cannot be unlawfully disregarded."

Rell's budget director, Robert Genuario, disagrees that the closure is legislatively prohibited. In a letter to Rell, he said the General Assembly did not pass any legislation that spells out how the money in the High Meadows line item should be spent. Genuario said that decision is left to the Department of Children and Families commissioner.

DCF has said it plans to close High Meadows in an effort to reduce the agency's investment in residential care. An application to shut it down is awaiting state regulatory approval. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Friday.

DCF said it could not comment on Blumenthal's ruling because of the pending hearing.

State Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein said both developments - the possible closure of High Meadows and the announcement of the new facility for delinquent girls - don't address what's really needed for these troubled teens.

"We can't make decisions based on the closing of a facility, opening of a facility," Milstein said.

"I think we need to sit back and think about what are some of the less restrictive programs we need," she added.

Milstein said she has supported a secure facility being built for delinquent girls in Connecticut, but one that's much smaller with about four to six beds. She said more needs to be done to help girls before they need such a setting, such as high quality, early intervention programs.

Connecticut has not had a secure facility for girls since the Long Lane School in Middletown closed in February 2003. Rell said that population has "some of the most challenging and urgent needs in our state" and that a girls-only facility can help them.

Many of the girls have gone to hospitals or privately run group homes. Some have been sent to York Correctional Institution, an adult women's prison in Niantic.

The new facility, to be built on state-owned land, is scheduled to open in 2011.

Milstein said she's also concerned about the possible closure of High Meadows. She said DCF has not planned enough for moving the boys to other, appropriate facilities.