[3] Initially a private charitable organization, it was established in 1868 as the Industrial School for Girls,[4] with the Connecticut Legislature approving the plans for the facility.
Sarah A. Leavitt, author of "Neglected, Vagrant, and Viciously Inclined: The Girls of the Connecticut Industrial School, 1867-1917," stated that Farmington was the only other site seriously considered for the facility.
[4] A 15-year old prisoner from New Britain, Tabitha Ann Brendle, became the first inmate of Long Lane to ever commit suicide; her death caused prompts to have juvenile corrections in Connecticut reformed.
Scott Mayeritz of Wesleyan University stated that the Long Lane campus building was "falling apart".
The closure occurred after the Attorney General of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, and a state child advocate, Jeanne Milstein, investigated a suicide attempt at Long Lane and then asked DCF to review its practices regarding the safety of delinquent girls.
[11] It instead closed February 7 of that year, with boys sent to the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CTJS) in Middletown and girls sent to various other facilities.