Tempers flared yesterday as neighbors of a Baltimore County youth jail told the state's juvenile services secretary that they don't like a plan to build a new facility on the 220-acre site and instead want the place shuttered as they said they had been promised.
They spoke of years of worrying about dangerous teens escaping the decrepit, poorly secured Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Cub Hill, of many a night being awakened by police helicopters with searchlights looking for those who had run away. One woman told of having her doorbell ring after midnight and opening the door to find a Hickey escapee asking to use her telephone.
They spoke of being told by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that Hickey was being closed, only to learn later that a substantial portion of the institution stayed open. They told Secretary Donald W. DeVore that it was time for this once-rural, now-residential community to shed the burden of having youth offenders in its midst.
"I think Hickey School should be closed," neighbor Evelyn Wyczalek told DeVore. "That's what we were promised."
"We want the school to go away," said longtime resident Edward Ford. "This is not the rural area it was when I was born and grew up out here as a teenager. It's time to put it someplace else."
In January, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced plans to build a modern $37 million, 48-bed detention facility on the grounds of the Hickey school by 2012. It would not be a long-term treatment program, but a secure way station for teens moving through the justice system.
The average length of stay would be about 30 days, as opposed to the yearlong stops some have made in the past, DeVore said. And the building would house far fewer teens than in the past, when the numbers have at times been in the hundreds. Currently, there are 63 offenders at Hickey.
Ehrlich announced in June 2005 that he would shut down the facility.
"Hickey will be history," he said at the time.
The long-term treatment facility there was closed in November of that year. Ehrlich said at the time of his announcement that the short-term detention center would remain open until the state could build a new juvenile jail. The secretary of juvenile services at the time said that jail could be built on Hickey land.
The short-term detention facility at Hickey remains open, as does a privately run 28-bed program for juvenile sex offenders.
DeVore told the group of about 150 neighbors crowded into a church hall yesterday morning that he wants their input as the new facility is planned. He said he plans to keep them posted about developments through regular e-mails and hopes some will be on an advisory committee.
"I know that a lot of you are upset because you were made a promise before and that promise never came to fruition," he said.
DeVore assured those assembled that the new Hickey school would not be populated by offenders from Baltimore - who neighbors say have often committed more serious crimes - but from Baltimore County and neighboring suburban counties. He said the city should have enough room for its offenders, with nearly 200 beds planned at an existing facility there and one to be built.
Still, many in the crowd were skeptical, fearing a 48-bed proposal would become a much larger facility or that city offenders would indeed end up at Hickey, as they have for so long. "We've been lied to so many times that we're scared," 17-year neighbor Mike Burton told DeVore.
Ford said he thinks it's a good idea to leave city kids in the city, but "there've been too many empty promises made - I don't know what to believe anymore. Do I think they're going to bring kids out here from the city? Yes, I do. The facility they're talking about in the city is going to fill up too quickly and we're going to end up with the overflow."
Carl Adams was in the minority at yesterday's meeting, saying that in his 50 years as a Hickey neighbor he has "had no problem with Hickey at all. ... We need a place for these kids," he said.
The crowd shouted him down. One woman yelled: "They're not kids. They're criminals."
Lawmakers who represent the area in the General Assembly were also on hand yesterday. They said they have proposed legislation that would close Hickey for good, though they are unsure whether it will pass. They would like to turn the site into parkland and transfer it to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, something many in the crowd have been pushing for.
"We're not happy about this either," said Del. Eric M. Bromwell, a Baltimore County Democrat. "I would like to see a new facility built in a nonresidential area. Unfortunately, Cub Hill is still part of the plan, but we're going to do everything we can to change that."
stephanie.desmon@baltsun.com
They spoke of years of worrying about dangerous teens escaping the decrepit, poorly secured Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Cub Hill, of many a night being awakened by police helicopters with searchlights looking for those who had run away. One woman told of having her doorbell ring after midnight and opening the door to find a Hickey escapee asking to use her telephone.
They spoke of being told by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that Hickey was being closed, only to learn later that a substantial portion of the institution stayed open. They told Secretary Donald W. DeVore that it was time for this once-rural, now-residential community to shed the burden of having youth offenders in its midst.
"I think Hickey School should be closed," neighbor Evelyn Wyczalek told DeVore. "That's what we were promised."
"We want the school to go away," said longtime resident Edward Ford. "This is not the rural area it was when I was born and grew up out here as a teenager. It's time to put it someplace else."
In January, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced plans to build a modern $37 million, 48-bed detention facility on the grounds of the Hickey school by 2012. It would not be a long-term treatment program, but a secure way station for teens moving through the justice system.
The average length of stay would be about 30 days, as opposed to the yearlong stops some have made in the past, DeVore said. And the building would house far fewer teens than in the past, when the numbers have at times been in the hundreds. Currently, there are 63 offenders at Hickey.
Ehrlich announced in June 2005 that he would shut down the facility.
"Hickey will be history," he said at the time.
The long-term treatment facility there was closed in November of that year. Ehrlich said at the time of his announcement that the short-term detention center would remain open until the state could build a new juvenile jail. The secretary of juvenile services at the time said that jail could be built on Hickey land.
The short-term detention facility at Hickey remains open, as does a privately run 28-bed program for juvenile sex offenders.
DeVore told the group of about 150 neighbors crowded into a church hall yesterday morning that he wants their input as the new facility is planned. He said he plans to keep them posted about developments through regular e-mails and hopes some will be on an advisory committee.
"I know that a lot of you are upset because you were made a promise before and that promise never came to fruition," he said.
DeVore assured those assembled that the new Hickey school would not be populated by offenders from Baltimore - who neighbors say have often committed more serious crimes - but from Baltimore County and neighboring suburban counties. He said the city should have enough room for its offenders, with nearly 200 beds planned at an existing facility there and one to be built.
Still, many in the crowd were skeptical, fearing a 48-bed proposal would become a much larger facility or that city offenders would indeed end up at Hickey, as they have for so long. "We've been lied to so many times that we're scared," 17-year neighbor Mike Burton told DeVore.
Ford said he thinks it's a good idea to leave city kids in the city, but "there've been too many empty promises made - I don't know what to believe anymore. Do I think they're going to bring kids out here from the city? Yes, I do. The facility they're talking about in the city is going to fill up too quickly and we're going to end up with the overflow."
Carl Adams was in the minority at yesterday's meeting, saying that in his 50 years as a Hickey neighbor he has "had no problem with Hickey at all. ... We need a place for these kids," he said.
The crowd shouted him down. One woman yelled: "They're not kids. They're criminals."
Lawmakers who represent the area in the General Assembly were also on hand yesterday. They said they have proposed legislation that would close Hickey for good, though they are unsure whether it will pass. They would like to turn the site into parkland and transfer it to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, something many in the crowd have been pushing for.
"We're not happy about this either," said Del. Eric M. Bromwell, a Baltimore County Democrat. "I would like to see a new facility built in a nonresidential area. Unfortunately, Cub Hill is still part of the plan, but we're going to do everything we can to change that."
stephanie.desmon@baltsun.com