Overcrowded, understaffed juvenile jail forces Wayne County officials to act

Christine MacDonald and Gina Kaufman, Detroit Free Press
·9 min read

The population of Wayne County's juvenile jail has nearly doubled and the facility is so understaffed that officials plan to take "swift action” to reduce the number of youths at the downtown Detroit facility, amid safety concerns for residents and staff.

The Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility's population has ballooned to 145 juveniles as of this week, about an 80% increase from its pre-pandemic averages.

County officials say they've been forced to house youths longer because of a statewide lack of secure residential facilities where they can send residents once they have been ordered into treatment, keeping juveniles in limbo at the facility for months.

Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Kenny wouldn’t comment on the exact steps to be taken to reduce the numbers of youths at the facility, citing “security concerns.” On Thursday, he said action is expected to be taken next week.

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The moves come nearly three months after police were called to the facility to help employees control a group of about 18 residents who had gotten out of their locked rooms, destroyed property and assaulted other youths, according to an initial county investigation. The juveniles complained they had not been let out “for recreation or to shower.”

"When you have a dynamic where you have an increase in the population and you have a reduction in staff, that's not a good mix," Kenny said.

“There is a concern about the juveniles’ behavior within the JDF in terms of violence. That's a concern. Both for ... other youth in the JDF and, certainly, as well as staff.”

Wayne County runs the juvenile detention center and in recent weeks staffers have been working closely with Kenny and other court officials to address problems at the facility, also known as JDF.

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It's licensed as a short-term institution for juveniles whose cases are making their way through court and is not equipped for "long-term therapeutic interventions and wrap-around services necessary for rehabilitation of delinquent youth," Megan Kirk, a Wayne County spokesperson, said in a statement.

Officials with similar detention facilities in Macomb, Ingham and Bay counties said they have also seen monthslong delays for placements of youths into treatment facilities. Two privately run residential facilities in Detroit that treated youths were closed by the state last month amid a series of abuse allegations against employees, including that a young patient was choked by a staffer.

Kirk said that closures and license suspensions of facilities have "directly resulted in institutions like JDF being overcrowded with limited resources."

"This system collapse is impacting all juvenile detention facilities in the state," Kirk said in the statement.

The JDF is housing more than 70 juveniles whom judges have ordered into treatment, such as for behavioral or mental health issues, and are awaiting placement elsewhere at a secure facility. Some have waited up to 10 months.

"It’s hard to imagine they are getting any better in the JDF without the services they are supposed to get," Kenny said. "They may be getting worse for all we know."

Wayne County officials say they are working with the state health department, but have been told there are only about 150 beds statewide at secure residential treatment facilities for youths who have been ordered into long-term placement as a result of violent offenses.

"That's not very promising," Kenny said of the limited number of beds.

The county is working on delivering additional services to youths while they wait for placement, officials said.

One mother said her teen has been in Wayne County’s juvenile lockup since last fall and was awaiting placement in a facility.

The mother, who the Free Press is not naming to protect her child’s identity, provided a court record from June saying the 17-year-old had been denied acceptance into numerous facilities for reasons including age and mental health needs and was “merely being warehoused at this point.”

The mother said she was told in June that a placement was available for the teen at a behavioral health center out of state but it fell through this month after a transportation issue.

The mother said she was upset that officials were unable to find a local placement for her teen, who is turning 18 next month. She said she was told there were “no placements here in Detroit, in the city, that wanted to accept my baby.”

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services did not specifically mention placements of youths from the Wayne County facility, but said in a statement late Wednesday that it was “working diligently to place children in the best facilities" to meet their needs.

The department said its facilities and those it licenses and contracts with are not “immune to the staffing shortages that we’ve seen across the nation, but we are working quickly to get these facilities back to full staff levels,” according to a statement from MDHHS spokesperson Bob Wheaton.

The department said the budget Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed into law will provide resources would address the backlog of cases and “ensure the safe, stable placement of children."

“This funding will expand access to residential placements by increasing payments to facilities so that they can hire additional staff and provide greater care to more children,” according to the statement.

There are 68 open juvenile detention specialists positions out of 109 budgeted posts at JDF, Kirk said.

The JDF lost its top leader when the interim director resigned in late July. The county said it has hired two new leaders for the facility set to start next month. In the meantime, the facility is led by the director of the county's Juvenile and Youth Services Division, along with other senior managers in the facility.

Hiring is a high priority for the county but has been difficult, Kirk said.

"It indeed continues to be a challenge to hire individuals that comply with appropriately rigorous standards to work in a Child Caring Institution," Kirk said.

Issues related to staffing shortages came up months ago in a state licensing investigation, according to a report reviewed by the Free Press. A licensing investigator found instances at the JDF where there was not enough staff to supervise youths.

"Supervisor 1 acknowledged this does happen," according to a state licensing investigation that started late last year. "Because of this lack of staff, youth are locked in their rooms for long periods of time (up to a full eight-hour shift) and do not have a staff in their pod if they did need assistance."

The investigation found licensing violations because a youth was not getting clothes or clean bedding, and another reported not getting daily showers “because the facility is short staffed and can’t take them to the shower.” They also found violations related to staff improperly holding a youth in seclusion for 18 days although the juvenile was “no longer a threat to safety.”

An initial investigation of the May incident where youths got out of their locked rooms blamed “staff errors” for creating the opportunity for residents to escape. The incident was first reported by WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) earlier this month.The investigation report written by a former JDF interim director, obtained by the Free Press, said that two residents received medical treatment and recommended the firings of two staffers.

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One was a supervisor who, during the escape, ordered all staff off the floor for their safety although there was “no credible threat” against the staffers, the investigation found. One staffer stayed behind on the floor, after he saw a resident being assaulted.

“Arguably, (the supervisor's) poor decision created a far more dangerous situation − reducing the staff/resident ratio to a dangerous proportion,” David Brooks, the former interim director of the JDF who resigned, wrote in his investigation to county officials.

The other staffer recommended to be fired was seen on video sliding something under the pod room doors of two residents prior to breakout and allegedly left her keys in a drawer, which a youth later took to release other residents, the report said.

Several juveniles involved were interviewed about what prompted the escape.

"According to the residents, there was no intent to harm staff," Brooks wrote. "The initial purpose for getting out of their rooms had to do with being locked up too much and the desire by some to take showers. It was later decided being out afforded the residents an unexpected opportunity to address previous beefs with residents (in other areas of the facility)."

Kirk said in an email Wednesday that the May incident was still under investigation and she couldn’t comment on whether any employees were disciplined. She also said the county did take "immediate action" to review policies and procedures after the incident.

The county said a small number of the facility’s longer-term residents have “consistently engaged in assaultive behaviors and destruction of property.”

Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch said that issues at the JDF are “very concerning.”

“I know the courts and administration had been working urgently to avert a crisis,” he said.

(This story has been edited to update the timeline for when Wayne County officials plan to take action on the overcrowding issue.)

Contact Christine MacDonald: cmacdonald@freepress.com or 313-418-2149. Follow her on Twitter: @cmacfreep. Contact Gina Kaufman: gkaufman@freepress.com Follow her on Twitter: @ReporterGina.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Overcrowded, understaffed Wayne Co. juvenile jail makes officials act