County weighs closure of juvenile detention facility
Officials: Moving inmates to regional sites would save nearly $1.8M annually
Santa Fe County is considering closing its juvenile detention center because of declining bookings, rising maintenance costs and growing liability risks, according to a memo sent to county commissioners earlier this week.
Commissioners will direct the county to either close or keep operating the center — known as the Youth Development Program — at their meeting Tuesday.
“We anticipate that the decision to close [the Youth Development Program] and house County youth elsewhere would save the county approximately $1,798,931 per year,” Santa Fe County Manager Katherine Miller wrote in the memo.
If a majority of the board votes in favor of closure, the county is required to provide notice to the union that represents workers at the facility. A final decision on the facility’s closure would be made at a later meeting, the memo said, after receiving input from the union.
The memo said much of the staff at the juvenile detention center could be absorbed into the Santa Fe County jail or the Regional Emergency Communications Center.
Salary and benefits for staff make up more than half the $2.68 million budget for the facility, costing the county $1.78 million in fiscal year 2019.
But the number of juvenile inmates continues to fall. Total bookings in New Mexico fell 40 percent during a fouryear period ending in 2020, mirroring a nationwide trend of alternatives to incarcerating youth.
In fiscal year 2017, the center held 357 youth, which fell to 293 in fiscal year 2019. More out-of-county youth were held in the facility in fiscal year 2019 than county residents.
Revenue for housing other counties’ juvenile inmates “does not come close to covering the county’s actual costs,” the memo said, adding in a footnote that the per-diem contracts discourage other stakeholders like municipalities or the state from contributing.
Santa Fe County officials said they have spoken with Bernalillo and San Juan counties about entering into contracts to house youth if the facility closes.
According to the memo, it would take an investment of more than $9 million to keep the aging facility running.
In 2016, the county’s task force recommended a smaller, “new, state-of-the-art facility” with a price tag of $10 million. The recommendation went nowhere.
Insurance costs, the memo noted, are rising. The fiscal year 2020 medical malpractice premium nearly doubled, going from $297,984 to $594,100. The deductible increased from $25,000 to $75,000.
The remaining counties that have juvenile detention centers have turned into de facto “regional facilities,” and the memo said Santa Fe is too close to Bernalillo to be an effective center.
“You would not put two truly regional facilities in such close proximity to each other,” the memo said.
In 15 years, half the state’s 14 juvenile detention centers closed. In 2019, the centers in Chaves and Luna counties closed, citing costs as a main factor.
If the facility in Santa Fe County closes, that leaves juvenile detention centers in Bernalillo, Curry, Doña Ana, Lea and San Juan counties to serve the rest of the state.
The New Mexico Association of Counties, a nonprofit that lobbies for county issues, is part of an informal work group that began meeting in September. It includes the state Supreme Court; public defenders; the state child welfare agency; and representatives of Bernalillo, San
Juan, Santa Fe and Roosevelt counties.
Grace Philips, the nonprofit’s general counsel, said one of the work group’s goals is to have stakeholders share the cost of the juvenile detention system.
The work group found that counties with youth detention centers were paying nearly 90 percent of the cost. New Mexico’s 33 counties collectively spent $18.5 million on juvenile detention in fiscal year 2019, and $16.5 million of that was paid by eight counties.
“Every time a facility closes, the counties that operate facilities shoulder a disproportionate cost for juvenile detention,” Philips said.
She said it’s vital to look at solutions for sharing costs, alternatives to incarceration, improving court processes and the feasibility of certifying and training a statewide team.
“We’re at a moment in our history that we can’t wait and see what happens,” she said.