Lockup could become outpatient facility
Harris County could have one less juvenile lockup by the end of the year, a shift that comes as part of a push by Probation Director Henry Gonzales to keep kids closer to home and out of custody.
The county hasn’t said publicly which of the four local juvenile facilities officials have in mind for closure, but whatever unit it is wouldn’t be shuttered entirely; the lockup would instead transition from a residential facility to a hub for outpatient services and day reporting.
Even as the county is plotting the shift, Gonzales is advocating for change at the state level; last week he became one of a few dozen juvenile justice officials across the country to sign onto a letter spearheaded by the Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice that advocates for closing kid prisons.
“As current and former leaders of youth justice agencies around the country,” the co-signers wrote, “we believe that the time has come to close down youth prisons, once and for all.”
But closing juvenile prisons — as opposed to county lockups — isn’t really in the hands of local probation officials. Gonzales acknowledged it’s up to the judges who dole out sentences that land kids in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s five secure facili
ties.
“I don’t get to pick who goes there, the courts do that,” Gonzales said. In recent years, and especially since the turnover after November elections, local jurists are sending fewer kids to the state facilities — but Gonzales hopes to lower the number even further.
“What I can do is provide alternatives to TJJD,” he said, “like our facilities, so the kid is closer to home.”
Over the past six months, Gonzales said, the county sent 40 percent fewer kids to state facilities as compared to the same six months a year earlier.
“We are seeing our judges send way, way less kids,” he said. “We’re at six or seven commitments so far this calendar year under the new judges.”
‘A great step’
In part, Gonzales said he would work by offering more programs at the county level, so that high-need kids with a history of problems can still get necessary support, supervision and treatment locally.
Gonzales has also made other changes. Until recently some juveniles would get the treatment and programming out-of-state. But after the Glen Mills Schools in Pennsylvania ended up at the center of an abuse scandal in February, Harris County officials decided this year to stop sending kids to facilities in other states.
“Some of these facilities are really great places,” Gonzales said, “but you can’t engage the parents when you send the kids out of state, and we cannot ignore the importance of family engagement.”
Though she was not part of the YCLJ letter, Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo voiced her support for cutting back on the number of beds in local lockups for teens.
“Moving toward alternatives to juvenile detention is a great step in the right direction,” she said in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. “This is part of a broader, ongoing conversation about reforming our juvenile justice system. We must work toward a future in which our juvenile justice system gives children an opportunity to thrive.”
No current officials with the state’s juvenile justice department signed onto the letter, though the agency’s executive director, Camille Cain, has repeatedly stressed the value of bringing kids closer to home and has cut the state’s juvenile prison population since taking the helm of the troubled agency.
If that trend continues, it could increase the population here in Harris County. Currently, the county has bedspace for about 300 post-adjudicated kids — but as of early April there were only about 180.
Now, Gonzales is in the process of moving some of the juvenile programming to begin clearing out one of the county’s three post-adjudicated facilities.
New building ‘on hold’
It may seem like a step toward progress, but still some advocates expressed concerns about plans to repurpose one of the facilities.
Sarah Guidry, executive director of the Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Policy at Texas Southern University, questioned whether decreasing available beds would simply serve as justification to build a new facility.
“They do need a new facility,” she said, “but my concern is that they may be building more beds.”
Until a few months ago, county officials were tossing around the idea of a newer lockup. But Gonzales put that idea to rest for now.
“That’s kind of put on hold,” he said, noting that the county is reevaluating its needs. “Everyone agrees that they don’t like our current detention center, but the county judge wants to make sure that any new facility lasts much longer than our past facilities have. So there is really no new building at this point.”