FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 15th, 2023
Contact:
Yonah Zeitz, yonah@katalcenter.org | (347) 201-2768
Follow on Twitter @KatalCenter | #CutShutInvestCT
State Board of Education Must Reject Application to Re-Open Youth Prison as a Charter School
Hartford, CT – Tonight at 6 pm, the State Board of Education conducted a public hearing on the application for the establishment of a charter for Capital Preparatory Middletown Charter School to be opened at the now-closed Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS). This process has been riddled with secrecy and lack of community involvement as residents in Middletown have not had access to this application ahead of tonight’s public hearing.
Statement from Lorenzo Jones, Co-Executive Director, Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice.
“Tonight, Capital Preparatory Middletown Charter School proposed to re-open a closed youth prison in Connecticut in order to create a new school. The prison — the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CJTS) – was closed in 2018. It has a documented and notorious history of neglect and abuse of young people, ranging from the use of chemical agents, excessive restraint, and solitary confinement. To suggest that it be re-opened to create a charter school is reprehensible. Connecticut should be closing MORE prisons, not re-opening them for schools. CJTS is an inappropriate and unacceptable place for human beings, especially children. CJTS must be permanently destroyed – not held in reserve to re-open. We call on the State Board of Education to reject this application to re-open CJTS as a school.
Instead, Governor Lamont must continue to close prisons and dismantle currently closed prisons – including the Connecticut Juvenile Training School – so they cannot be used again and move to cut correctional populations statewide, shut down more prisons and jails, and invest in true public safety: housing, healthcare, education, and jobs.”
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