Allegheny County Council will soon consider conducting a “historical overview” of the former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.
The motion to do so was sent to the council’s committee on public safety at a meeting Tuesday. If it’s passed by the full council and approved by County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, the motion would instruct the County Controller, Court of Common Pleas and other departments to work together on a review of past operations at Shuman Center.
The motion would also create a “Juvenile Justice Study Group” with representatives from the chief executive’s office, County Council, and the Court of Common Pleas. The group would hear from people with experience in juvenile detention operations, addiction counseling and recovery, education, mental health issues, and more. Group members would “evaluate the current and projected needs of the Courts” before making a recommendation on the future of juvenile justice in Allegheny County.
“All-inclusive and reimagination: Those are the two words that come to mind when I talk about this issue,” said motion sponsor and council president Patrick Catena.
“We have a lot of information that we need to get our hands on,” he continued. “Shuman Center was shut down for a reason and I believe that, obviously, if some sort of incarnation of that former center is brought forward, we need to learn from our past mistakes.”
The Shuman Juvenile Detention Center was closed in 2021 after the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services revoked the facility’s license. Shuman had received multiple state violations after several instances in which children detained at the center didn’t receive prescribed medications, were left unattended or were otherwise put in danger.
County officials did not have a clear plan to replace the center after its closure. Shuman was built to house up to 120 minors, but by the time it closed, just 20 were housed at the facility.
Since the closure, those in the county’s juvenile detention system have been sent to facilities in neighboring counties. Only a few counties still operate juvenile detention facilities: Most have closed in recent years.
Catena said he sees the study group as one way to address some of those issues as county officials consider the future of juvenile detention.
“It can't be somewhere where we go to throw away children,” he said. “That's not the purpose of Shuman. It needs to be educational, it needs to be a service center. It really needs to be providing service back to the community.”
Most children stayed at Shuman for less than 12 days.
Last week, the county executive’s office announced plans to re-establish a county-run facility or to create a public-private partnership to manage it.
The county released a request for proposals for a private entity to run the facility last year. Council’s proposed motion asks to suspend any action on the RFP for at least 180 days after the motion is passed, but such motions are non-binding. County spokesperson Amie Downs did not respond directly to questions from WESA about whether the administration would honor the request.
“The effort announced last week … continues with great expediency as we do our due diligence to identify juvenile detention options for the county,” Downs wrote in an email.
Advocates have asked the county to use less punitive options when dealing with kids in the juvenile justice system, and to rule out a private operator for a replacement facility.
“The questions that you need to explore are ‘How big should the facility be? Or should there even be a facility? And if there isn’t, what array of programs could replace a detention center?’” Alan Guenther said during public comments at Tuesday’s meeting. “Whatever you do, please do not hand over the keys to a private jailer who will be motivated to keep the detention center full.”
The county executive, County Council, and courts are all involved in deciding the future of juvenile detention. None have offered a timeline for when they hope to move plans forward.
