TORRINGTON – The state’s Judicial Branch put on hold its plans to shut down the juvenile court in the city and split the caseload between courts in Waterbury and New Britain.
The decision will mean the juvenile court will be relocated from its facility on Winsted Road to the new $81 million judicial complex under construction on Field Street early next year.
“That’s positive news and helpful,” Police Chief Michael Maniago said. “I hope the court remains open. We are a busy area; it doesn’t make any sense to go to Waterbury and New Britain when there’s a viable option here.”
In June, the state Judicial Branch announced the closure of juvenile courts in Torrington, Danbury and Stamford as well as a courthouse in Willimantic as a way to deal with $77 million cuts to the Judicial Branch budget.
Danbury’s juvenile court closed last month and Stamford’s closure is also on hold, according to Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, spokeswoman for the Judicial Branch.
The courthouse in Willimantic will close at the end of this month.
Stearley-Hebert said the courts were able to meet the cuts by eliminating 300 Judicial Branch employees as well as retirements. In total, the Judicial Branch has 500 fewer employees than it had in January and is spending $30 million less than expected to fund contracted programs to assist adult and juvenile offenders, she added. The Judicial Branch now has 3,700 employees.
“We continue to look for ways to save resources and, with this proactive and disciplined approach, we are saving the money that we need to save, permitting us to keep the Torrington Juvenile Matters Court open with existing staff,” Stearley-Hebert said in an email.
The move to the new courthouse on Field Street will not mean additional staff. There are no plans for additional hiring because staff will be consolidated into the new building with staff from Litchfield and Bantam courts.
The juvenile court makes up a small portion of the new building – about 11,470 square feet, or 6 percent, was designated in the 183,000-square-foot structure.
Torrington saw about 863 cases in the juvenile court during the 2014-2015 fiscal year, a small portion of the 25,103 cases statewide, according to state judicial statistics. In comparison, Waterbury had 1,989 cases during the same time period and New Britain had 1,744 cases.
There is currently one prosecutor at the juvenile court in Torrington.
Contact Bruno Matarazzo Jr. at bmatarazzo@rep-am.com or on Twitter @RA_BrunoJr.