![]() Neff said that the facility would adhere to Pennsylvania law.Īt the hearing, city and state officials revealed that other options under consideration include opening a new, 28-bed juvenile detention facility within an adult jail, Riverside Correctional Facility, on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia.īut Ali said opening such a facility could take at least two months. She said Rite of Passage isolates children for days on end, uses mechanical restraints, and performs strip searches. Philadelphia officials expressed serious reservations about sending children to the facility because of its disciplinary tactics, Department of Human Services Commissioner Kimberly Ali said. Headquartered in Nevada, Rite of Passage had revenues of $22 million in 2020, according to public filings. The company was the only one to respond to what he described as a nationwide call for emergency placement alternatives. The situation reached a boiling point in October, when the state closed intake at all three state Youth Development Centers, saying they were past capacity.īureau of Juvenile Justice Services Director Charles Neff said the emergency contract with the Texas facility, Rite of Passage, fulfilled the state's obligation. Pennsylvania DHS is mandated to accept sentenced youth, but has been running a wait list for years, officials said. The facility houses youth ages 10 through 20 who have been accused or adjudicated guilty of a wide range of offenses from retail theft to homicide. 4 in a large brawl that left one resident hospitalized and dozens of youth and staff hurt. They detailed frequent brawls and poor supervision - one testified that employees recently found 10 makeshift weapons in a room holding 20 children. "It's research-based best practice, and as a solution is only going to cause further harm to our youth and our communities."Ĭity officials who testified Wednesday described a facility in chaos, with dozens of children sleeping on mattresses in an admissions office or sitting on the floor to eat. ![]() "We need to focus on closer-to-home models and alternatives to detention for our youth," Philadelphia's chief public defender, Keisha Hudson, said. ![]() Vanessa Garret Harley, deputy mayor for the Office of Children and Families, said in a statement the city is "grateful" and will still pursue its lawsuit, which seeks to require the state to take custody of any sentenced juveniles who might be housed at the facility in the future in excess of its capacity.īut critics noted that the city could abate the problem by removing 11 children who remain there only because they are awaiting child-welfare placements, and urged officials to focus on a holistic, community-based solution. ![]() The order did not attempt to address crowding going forward, as the city and state continue to scramble for alternatives that could include a new juvenile detention center within one of the city's adult jails.Ī state DHS spokesperson declined to comment on the order. "From what I heard, there is nothing happening for the young folks at the PJJSC."Ĭeisler called the hearing after the city sued the state in October, alleging its failure to accept youth in a timely fashion had caused "devastating" conditions inside the 184-bed city facility at 48th Street and Haverford Avenue in West Philadelphia, where 202 children are now housed. "From what I heard earlier they are not getting any services, education, anything," Ceisler said during a Wednesday hearing, describing current conditions at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center (PJJSC). The order, issued Thursday by Judge Ellen Ceisler, requires the state Department of Human Services to transfer the children within 10 days to either a new state-run facility that is set to open in Pittston or a private facility in Texas. They're among 135 statewide on a waiting list to receive court-ordered treatment at state placements called Youth Development Centers. PHILADELPHIA - A Commonwealth Court judge has ordered Pennsylvania state officials to take custody of 15 children currently living at a juvenile detention facility in Philadelphia that the city says is dangerously overcrowded and understaffed.
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