Former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center to reopen Tuesday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center is reopening on Tuesday.
Adelphoi will operate the detention center, which has been closed for nearly three years.
Highland Detention at Shuman Center will include a single 12-bed pod that Adelphoi says will "provide a safe respite for youth, along with an opportunity for stabilization and assessment." Juveniles will also get meals, education and physical, mental and behavioral health services.
Since Shuman closed, there has been no place to detain juvenile offenders accused of the most serious crimes involving guns and violence. Judges have had no choice but to release them, sparking cries to reopen the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.
Hearing that call, the court system undertook extensive renovations and awarded a five-year, $72 million contract to the firm Adelphoi to operate Shuman.
Once Shuman undergoes more renovations, the complete facility will have five 12-bed pods, with a capacity for up to 60 people.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto said reopening the center "is a tremendous step toward being able to hold those young people involved in violence, specifically gun violence accountable in a way we have not been able to over the last three years."
"We've been working with the County to prepare Shuman to accept youth and we're delighted that the facility is now up and running," Nancy Kukovich, Adelphoi's CEO, said in a news release. "We've been providing exemplary services to youth from Allegheny County for over 40 years and we look forward to the opportunity to have an expanded presence in the County."
Adelphoi says between December 2021 and October 2023, more than 200 juveniles either met the criteria for secure detention or were court-ordered to detention but weren't detained because of a lack of beds, receiving electronic monitoring bracelets instead. Of those teens, five were shot and killed, one died from an overdose and at least one was critically injured in a shooting, Adelphoi says.
The company also cited a stretch of time between 2022 and January 2024 where there were more than 400 incidents of juveniles cutting off their electronic monitoring bracelets or letting the batteries die, with 108 people doing it multiple times.
The reopening comes despite the ongoing suit by the Allegheny County Council challenging whether the former county executive needed its approval to lease the building to Adelphoi. A spokesperson for the county executive's office said the county solicitor is still in discussion with county council and they hope to reach a settlement soon.
Adelphoi is a company that provides programs for at-risk youth like mental and behavioral health services, education, foster and adoptive care, group homes and detention.
Retired Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton said reopening the center is the right move.
"The gun violence is out of hand," Burton said. "And a majority of it is committed by juveniles."