Friday, January 29, 2010

Monmouth County To Close Youth Detention Center

Finally.

Bob Jordan at the Asbury Park Press reports that the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders voted 3-2 along party lines to close the Youth Detention Center. The three Republican Freeholders voted for the closure, while the two Democrats voted against.

Monmouth will send its roughly 25 detained youth to Middlesex County's kiddy jail at a cost of $2.5 million per year. This will result in a $2 million per year savings.

Democratic Freeholder John D'Amico came up with a good idea in his remarks opposing the closure. He questioned why privatizing the Monmouth County Jail was not on the table as a cost cutting measure. He said the county could save between $4.7 and $9.4 million per year by turning the jail over to a private company, without jeopardizing public safety. Superb! Let's get that done!

And while we're on privatization, does anyone else think its crazy to spend over $100,000 per year per detainee for the youths? Saving $2,000,000 per year sounds pretty good, but to spend $2,500,000 per year to detain 25 kids sounds absolutely insane. Let's privatize the YTD rather than send the kids and the money to Middlesex.

I offer to do the job for $1,900,000 per year. If there is over 40 kids to be detained over the summer, that's OK, no extra charge. I'll keep the money and the kids in Monmouth County. I'll create jobs and pay taxes.

I'm not kidding. If the Freeholders want to save another $600K per year and really turn those kids' lives around, they know how to reach me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As conservative Republicans, we must not let partisanship destroy our ability to accept opposition ideas when they make sense. This one definitely does. Republican Freeholders, are you listening?

Anonymous said...

ABSOLUTLY privatize the Jail if we can save that much.

Here is another good one. Sell the County Nursing homes. Why are we in that business?

Anonymous said...

..yes, and the Linkages, old London Motel, on rte.33, while you're at it!!