WSIL -- The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission is backing plans to shut down the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro. The commission says instead, the state should shift its resources into an alternative for juvenile offenders called Redeploy Illinois. It's meant to keep young people out of prison.

The goal of the program is to rehabilitate the juveniles in their community rather than sending them to youth prisons. Officials say the program treats offenders in an environment conducive to change and does it at a fraction of the cost of locking them up.

In a message to state lawmakers, the Juvenile Justice Commission makes it clear that the state should close the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro and put its resources into Redeploy Illinois.

"We've reduced the commitments, the number of kids we're sending to DJJ. We've reduced that by over 50%, which has saved the state millions and millions of dollars," says Redeploy Illinois Programs Manager Tara Montgomery.

Jefferson County has used the Redeploy Illinois program since 2005. It's meant to keep juvenile offenders out of the youth prisons with rehabilitation in their communities. Program officials say locking kids up is not working.

"The majority of kids were re-offending once they were released from there," explains Montgomery. "Obviously, that was not doing any good. They were not being rehabilitated. the state didn't have the dollars to rehabilitate them in there."

Instead of going straight into these youth prisons, kids through the Redeploy Illinois can come to one of these county assessment centers, where they can get in-depth evaluations on how to best treat the individual. One key component is what's called Multi Systemic Therapy or MST, a treatment model designed to change all aspects of a juvenile's environment.

"There's still something missing when you're not working within the family's immediate environment. And that's where MST comes in and does something different. We have the approach where we see what's happening within the home. We get to experience the dynamics, so that we're actually getting to the core of some of those issues the youth and their families are facing," says Darren Dunahee, an MST therapist.

MST therapists also recommend keeping kids away from prisons where they can be exposed to other negative behaviors. They say the best chance these juveniles have for a better life is on the outside of this fence.

Redeploy Illinois is currently studying how well its program is working, but there are no results yet.

The Juvenile Justice Committee says closing Murphysboro's IYC is just the first step. And the state may want to close even more youth centers. The commission is recommending the savings from the closures go into the Redeploy Illinois program, giving counties more dollars to treat the kids in their communities.

State hearings are set for Wednesday on the closure in Murphysboro and closure of the Chester Mental Health center. In Murphysboro, the hearing is at 10:30am at Davis McCann Civic Center. The Chester meeting is set for 4pm at the High School.