LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky's Department of Juvenile Justice has separated teenagers based on gender, age and offense level. Officials have ordered defense equipment, and even raised salaries to fill substantial staffing gaps.
Still, the violent outbreaks keep happening.
Kentucky State Police (KSP) are investigating an attack inside the Warren Juvenile Detention Center in Bowling Green, the second in a week's time. Over the weekend, police say three teenagers housed there attacked a youth employee, at one point barricading themselves inside an office.
WHAS11 sat down with Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Kerry Harvey and Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Commissioner Vicki Reed. They say they're making headway on security improvements, but results could take time.
"We face different challenges than [those that] existed 20 years ago," Harvey said. "The youth in custody are more likely to engage in extremely violent behavior."
Reed says getting to an adequate staffing level remains the biggest hurdle.
In the last few years, starting salaries for youth workers have increased from around $30,000 to $50,000 annually, to better hire and retain.
"There's no question that this work is not for everybody -- I don't think we would shy away from saying this can be hard and difficult work, but it's also very rewarding work," Harvey said. "[But] also, these services are essential to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, so the compensation that's provided to do these jobs needs to reflect that."
DJJ officials themselves have admitted the system is outdated and is in need of an overhaul.
Just in the last few months, law enforcement has reported to violence at youth detention centers across the state.
Examples include bedding set on fire and a teenager temporarily escaping the regional facility in Lyndon -- which reopens Jan. 31 after fixing issues with the fire alarm system.
Then, before Thanksgiving, a riot broke out at the youth detention center in Adair County -- where many Louisville teens are housed. One Louisville mother told us before the holidays that communication with her son had been difficult.
WHAS11 asked the DJJ if they're still committed to bringing detained Jefferson County teenagers as close to their families as possible.
"It's always great when kids are closer to home, but sometimes you have to make trade-offs with what we do. One of the things we also do, we offer generous phone calls to our families [and] youth are allowed Zooms," Reed said. "We're continually trying to do whatever we can to involve the families in that, so we will have some youth at Jefferson [Regional Juvenile Detention Center], but there will continue to be some youth at Adair."
The DJJ says they've ordered defense equipment like pepper spray, tasers and shields for staff to defend themselves, and other kids, when violence breaks out.
WHAS11 also asked the DJJ if it's involved in the discussion to bring a youth detention center back to downtown Louisville, where it closed in 2019 due to city budget cuts. Families have called for the facility to return, to bring care closer to home.
"Right now, our concentration is opening the facility in Lyndon, so we're looking at that, and everything else we're continuing to evaluate," Reed said. "We have aging facilities across the state, so we're looking at not just Jefferson, but where else we need improvement in our facilities and services."
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