Sprucedale Youth Centre

Sprucedale Youth Centre (formerly known as Sprucedale Training School) is a youth detention centre in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada operated by the province's Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. The centre houses high-security male young offenders between 13 and 18 years of age, primarily those convicted of serious offences under the Youth Criminal Justice Act up to and including murder.

Sprucedale Youth Centre
Coordinates42.834421°N 80.280125°W / 42.834421; -80.280125
StatusOperational
Opened1966[1]
Former nameSprucedale Training School
Managed byMinistry of Children, Community and Social Services

Secondary school
Sprucedale Secondary School
Location
Information
School boardBrant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board
Grades9-12
LanguageEnglish

Until the 1990s, the centre's on-site school was not part any public school board. The province of Ontario ran the high school as an independent unit within the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services; however, an administrative change was made throughout the province and the obligation to run the school was placed in the hands of the Grand Erie District School Board that operated in the facility's region. The teachers that worked in the prison became employees of the board upon this shift.

The school is designed to provide credits toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma and allow young persons in custody to complete their high school or upgrade functional literacy and work related skills. There are no school teams or extracurricular activities. The teachers are not expected to be involved in correctional activities, rather they are dedicated to providing education like in any other high school environment and are often unaware of the prisoner's case history or criminal background. In 2002 when the prison staff went on strike, the school closed dispersing GEDSB teachers to other schools in the board for the length of the labour unrest.

In 2018, educational duties for the Sprucedale Youth Centre were transferred to the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board.[2]

See also

References
  1. Cooke, Diana; Finlay, Judy (2007). Review: Open Detention and Open Custody in Ontario (PDF) (Report). Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy. Retrieved March 25, 2020. Interestingly, three of Ontario's current secure custody youth centres began as industrial or training schools: Brookside Youth Centre (1946), Sprucedale Youth Centre (1966), and Cecil Facer Youth Centre (1971).
  2. Robinson, Jacob (December 12, 2018). "Catholic school board partners with Sprucedale". Simcoe Reformer. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
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