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Rockingham to give land for youth development center

Monday, March 2, 2009

(Updated Tuesday, March 3 - 7:02 am)

By Mark Binker
Staff Writer

Rockingham County will give the state about 20 acres on Cherokee Camp Road so the N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention can build a youth development center, according to a notice from the governor's office.

The state's 10 top elected leaders, known as the Council of State, are scheduled to approve the gift at a meeting Tuesday.

The 32-bed development center would house youth offenders for a minimum of six months, according to a spokesman for the juvenile justice agency.

It would be the state's tenth such facility and part of a plan to create smaller development centers throughout the state so that those sentenced there can be closer to their communities.

"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."

Lassiter said that some construction would be needed on the site but could not say immediately how soon it is expected to open. About 66 people will work there when it is up and running.

The department had looked for sites in Guilford County but could not find a suitable location.