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Juvenile justice officials say raises, legal changes needed to fix system

Lawmakers have taken aim at the Department of Juvenile Justice, after several violent incidents at its facilities.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Before Kentucky House lawmakers consider a bill to address issues in the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), they heard from leaders at the top of the DJJ. 

Tuesday, Commissioner Vicki Reed and State Budget Director John Hicks gave an update on the department to a House budget subcommittee. 

They said staffing shortages are one of the DJJ's most significant challenges, despite recent raises bringing starting pay to more than $44,000.

They said the department also used money from vacant positions to raise pay to $50,000 in February. Officials say they need funds to make the raise permanent. 

"What is a figure for which we think we can get higher number of staffing?" Hicks said. "So $50,000 was one of the reason we chose to make that effort." 

Officials recommended lawmakers set aside more money for safety upgrades, additional staff and transportation services. In total, between fiscal years 2023 and 2024, they're asking for about $45 million. 

The DJJ proposed statutory changes too, including making bail available to juvenile offenders. 

The asks come as House lawmakers are set to consider House Bill 3.

One of the bill's chief proposals is to spend about $9 million to reopen Louisville's downtown youth detention center, once run by the city.

The facility closed in 2019 and the DJJ leaned more heavily on the Jefferson Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Lyndon. 

"When they closed down we had to shift over to the facility in Lyndon which was previously a Youth Development Center, not intended to be a full detention center, and had to make some retrofits," Hicks said. 

HB3 would put the reopened facility under the purview of the DJJ. 

Hicks said state officials agree on the goal of opening a facility in the Louisville area for higher level offenders, but there are questions about how much fixing the downtown facility would cost. 

"We haven't done a full walk through there to see what are the renovations that would necessary to bring that facility back to a secure detention center," Hicks said. "So the first reaction to that is I don't know if that $8.9 million is the right number." 

On Tuesday, Reed also addressed recent violent outbursts in DJJ detention facilities. She said the problems are in part because facilities are housing juveniles charged with increasingly violent crimes. 

Reed pointed to a 2014 bill to divert low-level offenders away from detention, allowing them to focus on juveniles charged with more serious offenses.

But she and Hicks also said some of the change is cultural, reflecting an overall trend towards increasingly violent crimes. 

"From my first stint in DJJ in 2004," Reed said. "If we had a kid in our building on capital murder back then everybody was sort of like 'wow we have a kid who committed a murder,' and now unfortunately we have a high number of those youth." 

Earlier this year, in an effort to protect youth and staff, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear implemented changes to the juvenile justice system by separating boys based on level of offense and creating a girls-only detention center.

That was a move away from the DJJ's regional system.  

Flannery said it's too early to tell how the information presented by the DJJ will impact House Bill 3 and any adjustments legislators make. 

The bill is set to be discussed by the House Standing Committee on the Judiciary Wednesday, Feb. 15. 

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