NORWICH – No residents of the Valley Ridge Center for Intensive Treatment have taken rehabilitation excursions in the community, assures the maximum security facility’s director, but the practice is officially permitted now.
Off-site visits in Chenango County were prohibited at Valley Ridge when a host of public and private officials laid out stipulations and commitments for accepting the facility back in 2002. Chenango County donated the Upper Ravine Road land where about 60 developmentally disabled adults who have offending or criminal behaviors are currently held.
The rules changed when Valley Ridge came under the umbrella of Broome Developmental Disabilities Services Organization in Binghamton last year. Broome DDSO’s community inclusion therapies include patronizing local stores and restaurants in Chenango County under strict supervision.
“Valley Ridge has rigorous oversight procedures to ensure those individuals who have shown progress in their treatment are allowed this opportunity with the appropriate oversight and safeguards in place,” said Nicole Weinstein, director of public information for the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).
Valley Ridge Director Carl Letson told members of the CIT’s Board of Visitors on Oct. 21 that he was “unaware of any such visits in Chenango County.” The community oversight group, which has met about four times per year at the Eaton Center in Norwich since the CIT opened, has the authority to visit Valley Ridge at any time; receives all incident reports; and is advised of preliminary plans for construction and alterations and programs and activities at the facility.
Board of Visitors President Stephen M. Bernardi said Monday that inmates, called consumers, would be accompanied by at least two staff members per consumer at all times, and wouldn’t actually go into a restaurant or business.
“I know for a fact that there’s not more than one or two people in the whole facility who would even qualify,” said Bernardi. “They may be driven through a drive-through window, or something like that.”
Valley Ridge’s treatment program includes clinical services ranging from basic living skills to intensive anger therapy and relapse prevention services. There have been up to 15 registered high-level sex offenders residing there at any time.
Through the years, OPWDD has at times issued citations and even relocated managerial staff following allegations of consumer on staff and staff on consumer abuse. The Chenango County BOV learned last month that there have been 234 such reported allegations at the facility from Dec. 2009 to Sept. 2010.
