Wayne County juvenile detention facility in crisis, leaders lobby for millions
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Wayne County is in need of help. A public health state of emergency was recently declared at the juvenile detention facility.
There are complaints about the facility being overcrowded and understaffed. There are also serious accusations surrounding the facility after a 12-year-old was reportedly sexually assaulted.
Legislators and county leaders met Wednesday in Lansing to explore solutions. According to Wayne County officials, if there's a decrease in the population at the facility, all of the problems would go away.
CBS News Detroit learned the facility houses 140 juveniles when the facility is designed for half the population.
Speaking to a committee of Michigan legislators, Wayne County officials asked for help fixing a problem they say the state helped create.
"There are 140 kids in that facility. Nearly 65 of them, nearly half of them, these kids aren't supposed to be there," said Wayne County health officer Abdul Al-Sayed.
Al-Sayed says the kids are supposed to be in a long-term residential program. Their juvenile detention facility was only designed for short-term stays. County leaders explain the average juvenile spent 21 days in their custody. Now the average is 127 days.
"Where we're at today is not where we want to be, and we acknowledge there's a problem," said Assad Turfe, Wayne County deputy executive. The deputy executive believes by declaring a state of emergency there will be less bureaucracy.
"At the end of the day, the fix is very simple. We need to get more residential beds online," he added.
County leaders are lobbying for $150 million. The funding will go to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to address the statewide bed shortage.
Another hurdle that the facility faces is staff shortages. With the increase in funding, leaders hope to create new positions and offer competitive salaries to entice workers.
They said currently the juvenile to staff ratio is one to 20.
Increasing staff will also help protect employees. Reportedly, 60 staff members have been assaulted at the facility since October.
"I think there's no cheap way to remedy the situation," said Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit).
Santana, who is the subcommittee chair, tells CBS News Detroit that she visited the facility Monday.
"I've had the opportunity to talk to some of the juveniles who have offenses that obviously no child should have, you see a child who didn't have those supports as a child," Santana said.
She agrees that the workforce problems need to be addressed but says the more important issue is getting kids out of the detention facility.
"How do we transition them to residential treatment facilities or other community support services?" she said.
She says the state also needs to focus on keeping kids out of the justice system in the first place through education and wrap-around services.
This was the first committee meeting held on the topic. Legislators say they are planning to have continued discussions on the topic.