PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council heard dramatic testimony on Thursday about chaotic conditions — children sleeping on the floor, frequent fights — caused by overcrowding at the Juvenile Justice Services Center. Council is now calling on the state to step in and remedy the increasingly dangerous situation.
When the JJSC opened in West Philadelphia 10 years ago, replacing the dark and dreary Youth Study Center on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, it was intended to be a model of how to care for youth in temporary placement awaiting trial. The facility, as described by staff and union leaders, sounded more like a nightmare.
“The children are sleeping on mattresses on concrete floors,” said Corrine Stokes, a counselor there.
“The admissions area, which is not a housing area, has 20 children there. It’s overcrowded. It’s not built for them to be living in that area.”
Stokes described an out-of-control melee that happened two weeks ago in which 20 staff members were injured.
“Injured trying to break up fights,” she said, “but at the same time, they were being assaulted, because these kids wanted to continue to fight. And on the following days, an additional five staff got hurt.”
Stokes said conditions at the Center are increasingly unmanageable.
“It is a very dangerous situation. We cannot continue to work in this situation and keep ourselves safe — or the residents,” Stokes said.
Her colleague Ebony Richards went a step further: “Someone is going to end up dying in that facility. We need help.”
The main problem, they say, is that the Center is overpopulated by more than 20%. There are 223 residents in a facility built for 180.
“This is a temporary housing place. It is not prison,” said union leader David Robinson. “They made it a prison.”
Council members are outraged. They blame the state for its refusal to take custody of some 80 residents who have been sentenced to state facilities.
“We are risking a catastrophe,” said Councilmember Curtis Jones.
After failed talks with state officials, Council introduced a resolution asking the city’s Law Department to consider suing the state.
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Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services says its secure treatment units are also at capacity. Officials say they are not refusing to serve the juveniles in custody who have been sentenced to state institutions, but they need to maintain safe operations at their own facilities. They say DHS needs additional funding to solve the immediate problem of housing the youth — and to develop a long-term strategy of preventive, community-based placements.
Here is the full statement:
The Department of Human Services takes seriously its responsibility to protect the health and safety of individuals in our care at licensed facilities, including youth at licensed juvenile detention centers and youth court-ordered to our care at DHS’ secure treatment units, which are currently operating at capacity.
Pennsylvania is a state-supervised, county-administered child welfare system, and counties are charged with placement for youth in care and are responsible for contracting with private providers to support their local needs. While DHS operates the secure treatment units, we do not control placement or discharge — this occurs from the court system, and DHS cannot unilaterally discharge youth from care. There is not refusal to serve — the issue at hand is the need to maintain safe operations at our facilities as well.
While the need to find placements for adjudicated youth is immediate, the long-term strategy and the number-one recommendation of the Juvenile Justice Task Force is to create and adequately fund effective community-based services that limit the number of youth requiring congregate care services. In other words, we must provide preventive services that address the many and complex needs of these youth and their families, including mental health services, housing and educational equity, poverty, and much more. Effective services within counties can greatly reduce the number of youths sent to congregate care each year. DHS at the state level is open to achieving this, but we need support, including obtaining additional funding from the General Assembly to help make this possible.
JJSC employees also complained to Council that the facility is understaffed, which is the responsibility of the City Department of Human Services. Virtually every city department has been plagued by understaffing since the pandemic.
City DHS officials have not yet responded to a request for comment.