DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997               TAG: 9703080208

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  105 lines

FIRM DROPS PLAN FOR FACILITY AT PINES CITING OUTCRY, FIRST CORRECTIONS ALSO DECIDES TO STOP HOUSING TEENS IN NORFOLK.

The operator of a controversial residential center for juvenile offenders near DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk said Friday it will not build a permanent 72-bed facility in Portsmouth, citing growing community opposition.

``Based on the concerns the community seems to be feeling, it's in everyone's best interest to not proceed with the project,'' said Penny Davis, a spokeswoman for First Corrections Corp.

Again citing public concerns, First Corrections has said it no longer will house youthful offenders at the Norfolk center, where the youths were to be kept until the Portsmouth facility was built. Two youths escaped last weekend from the center, Tidewater Residential Institute, and both have been recaptured.

The approximately 40 employees of Tidewater Residential Institute have been offered jobs in other First Hospital facilities, Davis said.

Cari Brunelle, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Juvenile Justice, said Friday that she was unaware that First Corrections had withdrawn from the Portsmouth project and could not comment.

The department received a letter dated March 6 from First Corrections saying: ``We are providing formal notification that at the present time we are unable to accept referrals'' of youths convicted of nonviolent crimes.

``We're certainly not going to put kids there if they can't take them now,'' Brunelle said of the Norfolk center.

The Friday developments were good news for some residents in both cities.

``I'm real happy they're doing it this way,'' said David Benson, treasurer of the Riverpoint Civic League in Norfolk. ``It solves all the problems.''

Louis Whitehead, president of the Portsmouth Council of Civic Leagues, which represents four civic leagues in the west end of the city comprising about 16 percent of Portsmouth's population, said he was not surprised the company has decided not to build the Portsmouth center.

``It would be a stupid idea for them to pursue that right now,'' he said. ``I couldn't see them moving ahead with this climate. . . . Too many things have happened.''

In the wake of the weekend escapes, the state on Tuesday removed the 24 remaining residents from the Norfolk center, which opened Feb. 18.

The escapees apparently broke out of the center by making up their beds to look like someone was sleeping in them, then forcing their way through a second-floor window and jumping to the ground, authorities have said.

One escapee, a 16-year-old who was not identified, was arrested Sunday. Police arrested the second escapee, Joseph Medina, 18, Friday. Both are from Prince William County.

Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim said city officials made their concerns about Tidewater Residential Institute's Norfolk center known to a variety of officials Thursday and Friday.

``The city made it very plain to the state and First Corrections that we considered that site an inappropriate location for the detention of juveniles,'' Fraim said. ``I think that message was listened to.''

Fraim said city officials will continue to examine the zoning that allowed the residential center to be located there.

``We're going to make sure that we have a handle on this kind of application in the future,'' he said. ``I guess you could say I'm relieved, but I'm still trying to get a full accounting of how this happened so we can ensure it doesn't happen again.''

The temporary version of the residential center in Norfolk was to be used for about six months to house up to 36 nonviolent offenders while the larger facility was built in Portsmouth. It would have been on the Brighton campus of The Pines Residential Treatment Center.

The Pines operates two campuses in Portsmouth, the Brighton campus and the Crawford campus. The decision not to build the permanent facility at the Brighton campus is separate from the existing operations at the Brighton and Crawford campuses.

The state had approached First Corrections looking for a place to house nonviolent offenders in an effort to find alternatives for overcrowded juvenile correctional centers. Part of the idea was to keep local youths closer to home, where their families could interact as part of their treatment.

First Corrections applied for and won the contract for the Norfolk site in December. The Portsmouth location would have required another contract. But before the contract could be signed, First Corrections needed to modify its current use permit with Portsmouth.

The same afternoon the state removed the youths from the Norfolk facility, the Portsmouth Planning Commission delayed action on the permit until April 1. About 10 civic league members attended that meeting to oppose the center, and four to support it.

Whitehead said members of the civic leagues he represents planned to pack public hearings and meetings to oppose the center in the wake of the recent escape and criminal activities by runaways from facilities operated by First Hospital Corp., parent company for both Tidewater Residential Institute and The Pines. At least one Planning Commission member said he opposed the Portsmouth project.

Stories recently published in The Virginian-Pilot reported that in 1995, residents ran away from The Pines at the rate of nearly one every five days. In the past few years, at least five residents or former residents of The Pines have been accused of violent crimes in Hampton Roads.

A Tucson, Ariz., campus of the Pines was forced to close last summer, shortly after residents rioted, causing at least $10,000 in damage and forcing police to arrest eight youths who were receiving treatment there.

Portsmouth civic leader Whitehead said he plans to remain vigilant in case the Portsmouth center, or some other version of it, resurfaces.

``I don't necessarily think it's a dead issue with 29 acres of land sitting over there on Portsmouth Boulevard,'' he said. ``Sooner or later, something is going to return. We'll just have to keep a close eye on it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color map

The Pines Brighton Campus

[For copy of map, see microfilm]

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu