State Representative Jeff McClain has submitted a letter urging Governor Strickland to suspend the closing of the Marion Juvenile Correctional Facility, until further analysis is conducted and presented to the public.

On February 11, McClain says he submitted his first public records request to the governor’s office and the Department of Youth Services (DYS). To date, he has received no response from Governor Strickland’s office and only three documents from DYS.

The Ohio Revised Code requires that public records requests be made promptly available for public inspection and fulfilled within a reasonable time.

“The public has not been given a decent justification as to why this decision has been made,” McClain said. “The Department of Youth Services has failed to present an objective, comprehensive and transparent analysis showing why they chose to close Marion over any other facility in the state.”

The Marion Juvenile Correctional Facility is the newest and most centrally located juvenile detention facility in Ohio. It is scheduled to close on June 6, as authorized by Governor Strickland. Three hundred twenty-seven jobs will be eliminated with the facility’s closure.