The union representing Shuman Center staff held a press conference in late 2021 to urge the county to keep the facility open. (Photo by Charlie Wolfson/PublicSource)
The county is looking to sell the Shuman site to a developer, with preference for a detention center. Some council members are worried about privatizing the facility.
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Allegheny County is looking for a company to operate a privately run juvenile detention center, just over a year after its own Shuman Juvenile Detention Center closed with no apparent plan to replace it.
Though there is broad agreement among government officials and judges that the county needs such a facility, some experts and elected officials are questioning the decision to privatize what had been a county-run operation until the September 2021 closure.
The county is moving to sell the former Shuman site to a developer, with a “strong preference” for a developer that would operate a juvenile detention facility, according to a request for proposals released Oct. 6. Some members of county council are skeptical of the move, though, and are concerned about the financial and quality-control implications of privatization.
The state revoked the sparsely populated facility’s license last fall after a string of violations, including medication errors, a heroin overdose and thefts. Rather than try to regain certification, the county administration abruptly decided to close the facility.
Judges, law enforcement and elected officials have said recently that a new juvenile detention center is sorely needed in the county, but the decision on who operates it appears to rest with County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s administration.
“The availability of juvenile detention beds is one of the most important issues facing the court right now,” said President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark at a county council hearing Tuesday night. She said the inability to detain youth who commit “serious offenses” presents a “serious issue in terms of community safety and protection.”
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