Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill HaslamNASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam said a controversial recommendation to close Taft Youth Center near Pikeville is “very persuasive.”
If the center is closed, its 90 or so teen inmates would be moved to four other centers scattered across the state. The proposal, suggested by Children’s Services Commissioner Kathryn O’Day, would save about $4.4 million.
“I still have some homework to do,” Haslam said. “But I think Kate’s basic argument of does it make sense to have four facilities that are 100 percent full and five that are 80 percent full is very persuasive.”
In a wide-ranging Times Free Press interview last week about his first year in office, Haslam said he is “particularly inclined” to go along with the proposal sooner rather than later.
He cited O’Day’s argument that many of Taft’s 167 employees should be able to find jobs at the nearby $208 million Bledsoe Correctional Complex, a prison for adults that’s slated to open in 2013.