County Administrators, Commissioners, and Common Pleas Court Judges from Dauphin, Lehigh, and Berks Counties appealed to legislators from those three counties in Harrisburg on Monday morning. The delegation was present to ask the Dauphin, Lehigh, and Berks legislators for their support in securing the funding necessary to launch the Regional Youth Detention Center and Shelter that will be located in the renovated former Berks County Youth Detention Center, 1261 County Welfare Road, Leesport.
The group of juvenile justice experts including Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas President Judge J. Brian Johnson, Berks County Judge Scott Lash, Dauphin County Judge Royce Morris, Berks District Attorney John Adams, Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick, Lehigh County Chief Probation Officer Kevin Miller, and Dauphin County Chief Probation Officer Chad Libby joined Berks County Chief Operations Officer Kevin Barnhardt, Berks County Deputy Chief Operations Officer Larry Medaglia, and Berks County Commissioner Dante Santoni, Jr. in explaining the crisis in juvenile detention beds in Pennsylvania to the collected state legislators.
“The juvenile justice system is a victim of its own success. The focus on balanced and restorative justice and the use of evidence-based practices curtailed the number of beds necessary for detention,” said Judge Johnson. “Unfortunately, there is still a critical need for detention beds given the violent offenses committed by juveniles.”
Year after year of counties winnowing down detention space and outsourcing to private agencies has created a shortage of detention beds that is threatening the state’s successes in juvenile justice and affecting services in all Commonwealth counties. The impact of the shortage of available beds is compounded by the increasing rate and more serious scope of juvenile crime. Further challenges include detention beds being consistently full, situated far from counties in need, highly selective admissions requirements, and outright denial of entry to youth.
Counties are frequently forced to search for beds in facilities in other counties, including Northampton, Bucks, Chester, or Montgomery County. These facilities often refuse out-of-county juveniles, forcing Berks County and others to release youth, who should otherwise be detained, into the community with nothing more than electronic monitoring. A shortage of State Detention Center beds also contributes to the county-level detention bed shortage and threatens public safety.
Berks District Attorney John Adams stated violent offenses committed by juveniles involving a firearm has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. “The sad reality is they don’t comprehend the consequences of pulling that trigger,” Adams said.
Berks, Dauphin and Lehigh Counties are working to improve the detention bed crisis by finalizing a regional partnership to open a regional detention center that would serve these counties and potentially open new and existing beds to other counties. By refurbishing and renovating the Regional Youth Detention Center and Shelter, these counties intend to open a properly staffed program to allow for 30 beds divided evenly between these counties. The existing building previously served as a functioning detention center from 1995 to 2012.
The delegation asked the collected Berks, Lehigh, and Dauphin legislators to support $6.3 Million for each of the three counties for the Regional Youth Detention Center and Shelter through the budget process, grants, or alternative funding streams.
“It’s really hard to get regional cooperation among counties, and not only cooperation but bipartisan agreement.” Commissioner Santoni said. “This really shows how important this endeavor is to our three counties and the broader region.” He continued saying the safety of our counties is an elected official’s most important job.
“It is the right thing to do,” Santoni said. “If our communities are unsafe, no one is going to want to live there; no one is going to want to come to visit us there; no one is going to want to create a business there. If that happens, our communities fall apart; so, we need to keep them safe.”