Michigan lawmakers to hold special hearing on Wayne County juvenile jail conditions
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A state Senate subcommittee will hold a special hearing Wednesday afternoon on the overcrowding and understaffing crisis at the Wayne County juvenile jail, a week after an alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy by other youths at the facility.
State Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, called for the hearing through the Senate Appropriations Department of Health and Human Services Subcommittee, which she chairs. It will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations Committee Room, on the third floor of the state Capitol.
The Detroit Free Press has been chronicling the ongoing crisis at the juvenile jail since last summer, spotlighting overcrowding, understaffing and poor living conditions for youths.
Expected to attend the hearing are Wayne County Deputy County Executive Assad Turfe; Elizabeth Hertel, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Leonard Dixon, former executive director for the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility.
Dixon currently serves as the superintendent of the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Illinois.
Police are investigating the alleged assault that county officials say happened in the early morning hours of March 15. A county employee told the Free Press last week that three youths are accused of assaulting the boy.
More:Boy, 12, released to mom after attack at Wayne County juvenile jail
More:Top exec at juvenile jail fired, says he doesn't understand why
The possible sexual assault comes amid deteriorating conditions at the facility that have reached crisis levels, county officials have warned. Juveniles have been confined to rooms for long periods of time and were denied daily showers, recreation, medication and schooling, an ongoing Free Press investigation has found.
The Free Press reported last week that Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and his staff have sent heated letters to Demetrius Starling, senior deputy director of the MDHHS' Children’s Services Administration, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in recent weeks, laying the blame for the dangerous conditions on her administration. Evans argues the state hasn't done enough to solve the shortage of facilities that house and treat juveniles who have been sentenced by judges, causing youths to languish for months while they await placements.
(This story has been corrected to update who will be attending the subcommittee meeting.)
Contact Christine MacDonald: cmacdonald@freepress.com or 313-418-2149. Follow her on Twitter: @cmacfreep.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan lawmakers to hold hearing on Wayne County juvenile jail
