LADOGA — For 20 employees of the Muskegon River Youth Center of Indiana in Ladoga, today marks the last day the facility will be open. All youth detainees have been moved from the youth detention center.
MRYC was a secured detention campus that housed males and females younger than age 17. The facility provided intervention services to at-risk youth from all over the Midwest. At its peak, the facility held 40 troubled youth. The youth were placed there by the juvenile justice system.
Christy Hubble was the facility’s nurse. She said Monday only one boy remained and he was taken to Cincinnati today where he was expected to be released by court order.
Hubble said employees have been told by the owners, Youth Opportunity Investments of Carmel, the detention center will close for a few months and will re-open as a slightly different type of facility. Youth Opportunity Investments President Mike Dempsey said the new facility will still work to help children but with a different angle.
“We need to close the facility to remodel to meet state requirements for what we are going to be doing in Ladoga,” Dempsey said. “We are in a transition stage from being a detention center to a private, secured residential facility under the Department
of Child Services.
When the center first opened in March 2014 there were a few problems and local residents were concerned after a couple of youth escaped and stole a vehicle. However, Ladoga Town Clerk Vicki Powers said there had not been any recent problems.
“We have not heard of any problems for a long time,” Powers said.
In May, the center was awarded a national award for detention centers.
“We were named the most improved detention facility in America,” Dempsey said. “The award was proof we are trying to do what is best for at-risk kids.”
MRYC case manager David Bower was sad the facility was closing. Bower, who is also a minister, said there were good things happening at the center.
“Working there has been very inspirational,” Bower said. “I have seen a lot of good work being done with the kids.”
Dempsey hopes good results will continue after the transition. He said in the future
juveniles sent to the facility will be those who are in between being in trouble and being sent to a detention center.
“We are going to focus on kids who are at a high-risk of entering the juvenile justice system,” Dempsey said. “As always, we are trying to do the right things to make a difference in kids for the rest of their lives.”
Hubble said the center had successes in helping youth change their lives as evidenced by phone calls employees regularly received.
“We continually get phone calls from former residents who just want to talk about how their life is going,” Hubble said. “We know we have made a positive difference in the lives of a lot of our kids.”
Dempsey said any of the current employees who are still in need of a job will be welcomed back in the spring when the remodeled facility re-opens.
