The West Virginia Industrial Home for Youth, located at Industrial, near Salem in Harrison County, served as a maximum-security facility for girls and boys age 12 to 20.
The Industrial Home for Youth opened in 1899 as the West Virginia Industrial Home for Girls. Young females were sentenced by the juvenile courts or justices of the peace for incorrigibility and immorality, and by the criminal courts for felonies. Males were sentenced to the Industrial Home for Boys in Pruntytown, which had opened in 1891.
The change in philosophy regarding youth incarceration, which began in the 1970s, led to population declines at the industrial homes. In 1983, the Industrial School for Boys closed, and the girls’ facility was redesignated as the Industrial Home for Youth. The boys from Pruntytown were moved to this institution.
In 2000, an $18 million expansion was completed at the Industrial Home for Youth, with separate wings for females, males, and sex offenders. The new building provided for greater security, in-house medical services, and treatment programs. Educational services were provided through the West Virginia Department of Education.
Conditions at the facility drew criticism, however, and the Division of Juvenile Services developed plans to transfer young offenders out of the Industrial Home for Youth. The plan was also designed to ease overcrowding in the state’s regional jails. In 2013, the young offenders were transferred to other juvenile centers. On July 1, 2013, the former Industrial Home for Youth became the Salem Correctional Center and Jail, a minimum- and medium-security prison for up to 388 men. On site, it also operates a 64-bed substance abuse center, teaches adult basic education, provides transition programming and life-skills classes, and offers vocational training in areas including heating ventilation and air conditioning, culinary arts, plumbing, and master gardening.
A former facility in the same location, the Dr. Harriet B. Jones Treatment Center, treated juvenile sexual offenders and juveniles with psychiatric issues. In 2013, following allegations about mistreatment of inmates, a circuit court judge ordered the facility closed, and the residents were transferred elsewhere in the state.
Last Revised on August 31, 2023
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Cite This Article
e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia "West Virginia Industrial Home For Youth." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 31 August 2023. Web. 26 April 2024.
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