Juvenile center residents find temporary placement
In its need to provide a temporary solution to the Juvenile Detention Center crisis, Delaware County Council approved a contract with a GEO Group Inc. subsidiary to place juveniles in a Morgantown, Pa., facility - with a strong emphasis that the situation be temporary.
Delaware County Council unanimously approved a contract between the county, its Department of Human Services and Cornell Abraxas Group Inc. for use of the juvenile detention facility in Morgantown at a cost of $340 per day.
“I will say I’m far from convinced that this is the right long-term approach and I am conscious of the fact that this is a shortterm agreement,” county Councilman Kevin Madden said, noting that this agreement goes through the end of June. “I will support this on the condition that it’s a short-term fix while we figure out what the longerterm solution is going to be here.”
On March 12, Delaware County President Judge Kevin F. Kelly ordered the Juvenile Detention Center in Lima closed after Delaware County Public Defender Chris Welsh and First Assistant Public Defender Lee Awbrey sent a letter expressing grave concerns about the safety of juveniles there. Welsh said Delco’s juvenile justice system was broken and kids were being abused.
Staff at the center allegedly punched juveniles, forced one with a severe mental illness to drink out of a toilet and forced them into solitary confinement. One allegation said a detainee was raped every night for a month by a guard, who said he’d kill the juvenile’s family if he reported the abuse. A female youth said guards would allegedly provide drugs and alcohol to female detainees then sexually assault them.
Since then, two former residents of the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center filed suit in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania in relation to the alleged physical, sexual and psychological abuse there.
Since the center’s closure, juveniles who need to be detained have been sent elsewhere, hence the county’s need to consider a contract with Cornell Abraxas Wednesday.
Abraxas Youth & Family Services began in Marienville, Pa., in 1973 with one site and 30 clients. It now operates 19 programs in five states, including the Abraxas Academy in Morgantown, which is a secure residential detention facility that services male youth between 14and 18-years-old in ninth grade or above.
Delaware County already contracts with Cornell Abraxas for some human services such as a female drug and alcohol residential program and a leadership development program and this is an addition to provide juvenile detention services through June.
Danielle Di Matteo, director of Delaware County’s Juvenile Court and Probation Services, explained some of the challenges since the county’s Juvenile Detention Center was closed last month.
She said the other day, a call was made to Chester County to house a juvenile and they declined because of their current circumstances of having either a difficult client or having a client that requires additional staffing that they did not have available.
She also spoke to conversations that had occurred with Bucks and Montgomery counties.
DiMatteo said the Bucks County commissioners were considering the arrangement this week, adding that verbally they were willing to assist Delaware County while Montgomery County had some issues with the contract and returned it.
“They do not contract with counties generally,” DiMatteo said of Montgomery County. “They are doing this solely as a favor to us.”
However, she said she remained hopeful that that could be worked out and that an arrangement with Montgomery County would be another option.
“I understand and appreciate the fact that with the closing of the juvenile detention center in Lima by the courts a few weeks back, it created a sudden need that wasn’t anticipated,” Madden said, adding that the county Juvenile Court and Probation Services department was doing what it could to make sure that county justice was not left in a lurch.
“Under the circumstances, I’d be supportive of this short-term agreement to make sure that there isn’t a ... lurch kind of situation. But, I do so under the condition that I want to make sure that council is kept apprised of where juveniles are being held ... I would like to see that Abraxas is used as a last resort.”
Madden noted that DiMatteo’s office was trying to find beds for juvenile offenders.
“I think it’s important that they be held in locations that are as close to Delaware County as possible,” he said, adding that the juveniles’ attorneys should be kept up to speed regarding where their client is being held.
DiMatteo explained that her office contacts facilities in order of distance for a number of reasons, including keeping families close to each other, adding that the facilities have the right to refuse and if the youth is there, the facility can request to have Delaware County move them if there is a significant behavioral or facility issue.
Madden spoke to his concerns about the connection with GEO Group, the operator of the 1,883-inmate George W. Hill Correctional Facility that houses adults. The county Jail Oversight Board is in the process of deprivatizing the adult facility and returning it to county operations.
“We’ve had to say challenges on the adult detention side of things would be an understatement,” Madden said. “This adds to my further discomfort with supporting this but, again, under a short-term arrangement, I understand.”
County Councilwoman Elaine Paul Schaefer said she was voting on the matter “with great trepidation. I look forward to finding better solutions on this front, obviously closer to home and just not thrilled about any kind of for-profit venture that offers this service.”
County Council Chairman Brian Zidek said the courts are the only authority that can operate the juvenile detention center as he expressed his discomfort with sending juveniles to a private, for-profit entity.
County Councilwoman Christine Reuther said county council didn’t have a lot of alternatives since it’s required to make sure that the county court system has the resources it needs to place these kids.
“Nothing would give me greater pleasure than funding something other than a detention facility,” she said. “In the short term, I don’t know that we could do a lot.”