NORWICH – Morale is high and staffing steady at the Valley Ridge Center For Intensive Treatment, according to a report made June 26 to the high-level security facility’s community liaison group.

CIT Director Chuck Kearley told the four members of the Valley Ridge Board of Visitors that the five-year old building on Upper Ravine Road in the town of Norwich is “in very good shape,” and that staff and inmates are “kind of into a rhythm.”

A recent post certification review by the New York State Office of Mental Health found no deficiencies in the treatment center’s program. “They found no deficiencies this time around and said, ‘See you in the fall.’ Our life is like going from one review to the next,” Kearley said.

The center, which is operated by the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, houses 60 mostly 18-35 year-old mentally retarded males who have a criminal past. The inmates, called “consumers,” live in five housing units and receive clinical services ranging from basic living skills to intensive anger therapy and relapse prevention services. The staff-to-consumer ratio is 3.75 to 1.

The community outreach group receives updates up to six times a year about the facility. The meetings are open to the public.