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RALEIGH — Construction of a prison for youth offenders in downtown Wentworth could be one step closer after a meeting of top state officials today.

The Council of State, made up of the governor and nine other statewide elected officials, is due to accept a gift of about 20 acres from Rockingham County.

The land would be used for a 32-bed youth development center that would be run by the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The site is at the end of Cherokee Camp Road across from the Rockingham County government complex.

“It’s much more than just a prison in that it works for the kids with (mental health) counseling and they get their education there,” said department spokesman William Lassiter. “The whole purpose of it is much more therapeutic than you would think of in a normal prison setting.”

The Wentworth center would be the state’s 10th, housing underaged offenders who are ordered jailed for at least six months. The center is part of a plan to expand the number of youth development centers throughout the state.

“What we’re trying to do is build smaller facilities that are community-based,” Lassiter said. That allows juvenile offenders to stay closer to home and lets members of the community volunteer to help mentor the young people.

About 66 people will work at the center once it’s open. But it will take at least a year to build and more time to outfit with utilities. As well, the sour economy and ongoing budget concerns make the opening date far from certain, Lassiter said.

When the center was slated for Guilford County, officials estimated it would cost $3.2 million to build. That cost has likely gone up because of inflation, Lassiter said.

State officials wanted to build the center in Guilford County on Sandy Camp Road near a Department of Transportation maintenance yard. But neighbors objected and county commissioners denied the state’s request to build there.

Wentworth has granted the state a conditional-use permit.

“We didn’t have many objections to it,” said Wentworth Mayor Dennis Paschal. “Most of the people were looking at the jobs there.”

Rockingham County Manager Thomas Robinson agreed that the potential jobs were a big factor in Rockingham deciding to give the state the property.

“A lot of these are professional jobs,” he said.

When asked whether there was concern about bringing what amounted to a small prison to the county, Robinson said that he believed the centers were effective at helping the youth get back on track.

“These are the same kids that if you went to the movies on Saturday night you’d see there,” he said. “They just cross the line one too many times and wind up there.”

In fact, Robinson said, the county gave the state more land than was needed so that the state could expand if other planned locations, such as one in Forsyth County, don’t work.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com