MEDIA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office has released a grand jury report that says “a dangerous absence of oversight” and a dangerous, unprofessional culture at the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center created “systemic failures” that put children’s safety at risk.
The report says the detention center was run more like a prison focused on punishment than an institution of reform. It was closed in March of 2021, and it is unclear if or when it will reopen.
The grand jury report says guards called the juveniles names and treated them like prisoners, called their surroundings “kid jail” and brought them in and out of the facility in shackles. Detainees were regularly locked in their graffiti-covered rooms for hours on end with insufficient educational materials or programming, according to the report.
It also found a lack of working video cameras allowed for physical and sometimes sexual abuse.
Citing statutes of limitations and a lack of admissible evidence, the report does not recommend criminal charges. It does, however, recommend legislative and administrative changes, which could help conditions at juvenile detention facilities across Pennsylvania, the report says.
Related
The report notes the appointment of a board of managers, which it says has experience in youth detention and represents a more broad cross-section of the community. The report adds, however, that it is regrettable that those changes came only after the facility was shut down.
Delaware County officials say they are reviewing the findings and taking steps to ensure the safety of detained juveniles.
“While the findings were deeply troubling, we know that — due to the commitment of the members of Delaware County Council and the members of the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Board of Managers, Delaware County is actively charting a new path forward,” wrote District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer in a statement released on Tuesday.
“I am confident that everyone involved in the treatment of juveniles in Delaware County will heed the recommendations contained in the report to ensure that this troubled history is never repeated.”