PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania officials say they’re working to open a new secure treatment unit for youthful offenders by the end of this week, to comply with a judge’s order in a lawsuit that seeks to relieve overcrowding at Philadelphia’s Juvenile Justice Service Center (PJJSC).
On Thursday, Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler gave the state ten days to take custody of 15 youth who are still at PJJSC weeks after being sentenced to treatment at state facilities.
It wasn’t initially clear, though, where the youth would be sent. The state suggested they might go to a private facility in Texas.
That option appears to be off the table, in favor of accelerating the opening of a new state facility planned for Pittston, Luzerne County.
“We are working quickly to finalize steps to open the Northeast Secure Treatment Unit for placement starting next week,” a spokesperson for Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services wrote in an email Friday. She said the state would have no further comment since the lawsuit is still pending.
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The city sued the state, last month, charging that the state’s failure to take custody of youth who’ve been sentenced in juvenile court to state facilities has led to dangerous overcrowding at PJJSC.
Both staff and youth incarcerated at PJJSC report chaotic conditions, with children sleeping on the floor, going without educational activities, exercise or even family visits.
“These deteriorating conditions, coupled with demoralizing waiting periods for youth, are resulting in frustration that leads to more physical confrontations with staff and each other,” wrote Deputy Philadelphia DHS Commissioner Gary Williams in a declaration for the lawsuit.
“Since August 2022, we have had to call the police twice to assist our staff members in quelling large fights.”
Williams said PJJSC has at least 30 residents over capacity, including more than 60 youth awaiting transfer to state facilities.
He said the state has been declining to accept custody of sentenced youth for nearly three years and, last month, closed intake to new placements, saying its facilities were at capacity due to staffing issues.
The state is now advertising for counselors for the Pittston facility on its job posting page.
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Deputy Mayor for Children and Families Vanessa Garret Harley called Cesiler’s preliminary order a partial victory.
“While we are grateful that this court order will provide some relief to the youth and staff at the PJJSC, we will continue to pursue the full legal relief that we initially sought,” she said. “The City of Philadelphia will continue to move forward with exploring all options to ensure that it can maintain the safety, health, and well-being of youth and staff at the PJJSC.”
Councilwoman Helen Gym, who supported the lawsuit, said the transfers were necessary to relieve the “inhumane emergency crisis” at PJJSC but added they are not a long term solution.
“We must develop and put into place safe and effective programs that break cycles of violence and don’t perpetuate them,” Gym said.
“What we know has worked best for young people are more options, close to home that are directly related to their needs that are smaller, intensive and that’s what we’re missing in the public safety and restorative narrative around our young people.”
Advocates doubt that simply transferring the youth to state facilities will accomplish much.
“Building new facilities and continuing to fill them with children is not really an adequate or effective response to the needs the kids have who are involved in the justice system,” said Marsha Levick of the Juvenile Law Project.
“We have ample research that kids are harmed in these facilities, they don’t keep communities safe, they don’t prevent recidivism and we should be looking for new solutions and new answers. We should think about investing dollars in people and communities, not in buildings.”