Allegations of civil rights abuses shadowed Previte
Courier Post
March 11, 2005
By Jason Laughlin
The director of the county's juvenile jail, who has been the focus of investigations into possible civil rights abuses there, is retiring.
Mary Previte is expected to step down as director of the Camden County Youth Center on April 1, county officials said.
The 72-year-old Haddonfield resident is one of 79 county employees who took advantage of a buyout package this month that will allow her to leave with a lump-sum payment of half her annual salary of $97,226.
"Each of us dreams of making the lives of others better," Previte said in her letter of retirement. "Camden County has given me that opportunity - to be a voice for children who often have no voice."
Previte, a Democrat, is also an assemblywoman representing the 6th District.
Camden County Freeholder-Director Louis Cappelli said Previte's departure was unrelated to federal and state investigations into whether the Camden County Youth Center illegally detained teenagers in order to increase state-provided education funds.
"It is not related to that at all," Cappelli said. "Mary has mentioned in the past that her main goal in bringing her career to an end was to have the construction begin on the new juvenile detention center in Lakeland. That construction is well under way, thanks to the efforts of Mary."
The $16 million facility is being built at Gloucester Township's Lakeland Complex, site of the existing youth center.
A cloud was cast over Previte's long career as a child advocate by allegations that she may have ordered teenagers illegally detained. In October 2004 the youth center held a one-day population count, which is used to determine the amount of funding the center would receive from the Department of Education.
The more teens in the center at the time of the count, the more state money it would receive. Investigators are looking into whether 15 teenagers who were on electronic monitoring were detained illegally.
Statements made in court indicate Previte ordered the detention of the teenagers, who normally would not have been detained unless a judge found they had violated the conditions of their electronic monitoring program, authorities have said.
The youngsters' parents agreed to the detentions, court records show.
Neither the U.S. Attorney's Office nor the state Attorney General's Office commented on the investigations Thursday.
Previte has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and investigators have not mentioned her as potentially facing any charges.
"I had hoped that the investigation at the youth center would have been completed by now," Previte wrote in her letter. "I am confident that this investigation and our system of justice will clear me and my partners here."
Previte will be up for re-election in November. Camden County officials did not comment on how her departure would affect her legislative work.
She did not return calls for comment Thursday.
Previte has a reputation as a child advocate. A survivor of a Japanese prison camp in China during World War II, Previte has said she uses that experience to reach out to the young people held in her center. She has written books about her experience with troubled teens.
Previte, a former English teacher, has been the juvenile jail's director for about 30 years. She was elected to the Assembly in 1997.
