Editorial: Juvenile detention needs staffing solutions to keep doors open
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Pennsylvania needs to find a fix for juvenile detention. So do counties.
Westmoreland County’s Regional Youth Services Center has had its juvenile detention facility shut down temporarily because of staffing issues and state investigations. The investigations come after two incidents occurred in a short time frame. One was a suicide attempt. The other was an instance of self harm.
It makes sense that the state would want to take a closer look. But does the shutdown help?
“Whenever you have a critical incident in a juvenile detention facility, you have to self-report, and the state comes in and investigates. Our staff had to come off the floor whether they did anything wrong or not,” Director Rich Gordon said.
Minors who were in the county’s custody hurt or attempted to hurt themselves. This is a serious situation that should not be dismissed as a routine bureaucratic checkpoint.
That is particularly concerning after the closure of Shuman Juvenile Detention Center in Allegheny County. That facility was shut down in 2021 after years of problems and four provisional licenses. Gordon worked there, too.
Similarly, children were able to injure themselves. The state described the situation at Shuman as “gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct in operating a facility likely to constitute immediate and serious danger to the life and health of the children in care.”
The recurring theme is that there just aren’t enough people working at the facilities to keep eyes on at-risk kids. Fewer facilities doesn’t fix that.
In April, the state House Appropriations Committee heard testimony that, in nine county facilities and three private centers, there are a total of 513 residential beds. However, only 366 are operational.
Like Gordon, acting Department of Human Services Secretary Valerie Arkoosh pointed to staffing as a major factor for that problem.
The staffing problems need to be addressed. That’s a familiar refrain. The same can be said of state prisons and county jails, hospitals and nursing homes. But this isn’t something that can wait, and it isn’t a corner that can be cut. These are children, and this is about their safety.
“You have no idea how frustrated I am. I just wish the state addresses this issue,” said Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michele Bononi.
Allegheny County is considering reopening Shuman, which will increase the number of available beds in the region, but it will also mean more competition for staff.
Because of the small number of county facilities that operate, as most counties try to contract for space rather than provide it themselves, anytime one center closes its doors even temporarily, it is a problem that has statewide impact. That is why the state needs to be part of the solution.