A number of old buildings at the Bill Ireland Youth Development Campus, some dating back to the late 1930s, are set to be demolished, according to an executive order signed by Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this month.
The project will be completed in phases. Phase 1 calls from the razing of the 10 living units near the front of the property, located to the right of the front gate. The 181-acre property is expansive, and most of it is not visible from the road. Believe it or not, 82 structures are still located on the property, according to a document included in the executive order.
Where the old living units are being a torn down, a new building eventually will go up.
“The demolition of unused buildings at our Milledgeville Youth Development Campus will make way for a new 48-bed facility,” said Glenn Allen, communications director for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.
“This project will replace outdated infrastructure with modern facilities that enhance education, safety, and youth rehabilitation.
“The new facility will include a dining hall, educational classrooms, and a recreation area, all designed to meet current juvenile justice best practices. These improvements will create an environment where our young people can improve their lives.”
As recently as 20 years ago, the facility employed around 300 people. Nowadays, it’s closer to five dozen.
The facility actually closed in December 2009, a time when Baldwin County’s state government job sector was getting clobbered by the Great Recession. First up was Central State Hospital, which began downsizing in early 2009. Piece by piece, building by building, entire units at Central State eventually were shut down and employees laid off en masse. Also around this time, four different state prisons on the southside of town closed.
Then, right when it seemed as if nothing else could possibly go wrong, something else definitely went wrong. Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office announced that the Milledgeville YDC was closing.
The job losses during this time were glaring when comparing Baldwin County’s 2012 Area Labor Profile to its 2002 Area Labor Profile. In 2002, according to the Georgia Department of Labor, Baldwin County had 5,925 “state government jobs,” which represented 30.6 percent of all jobs in Baldwin County. Back at this time, Baldwin and Clarke counties always ran neck-and-neck for the highest percentage of state government jobs among Georgia’s 159 counties, with Clarke County being home to the University of Georgia.
Fast forward 10 years to 2012, when Baldwin County was listed with 3,550 state jobs, a net loss of 2,375 state jobs from 2002.
A scaled-down version of the Bill Ireland YDC then reopened in late 2014, rebranded as an “Intensive Treatment Unit,” basically an all-star team from around Georgia of of the juveniles in the Department of Juvenile Justice’s custody who were the most unruly.
The Milledgeville YDC campus dates back to 1905, when it opened as the Georgia State Reformatory. Several name changes followed. In 1985, it was renamed the Bill E. Ireland Youth Development Campus. Ireland worked at the facility from 1921-1964.