County juvenile detention center doubles capacity to 16 beds

Facility officials confirm expansion at the Hempfield center following a $1M security upgrade.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center has quietly doubled its capacity.

Executive Director Rich Gordon confirmed Monday that a long-planned expansion of the program that houses juvenile criminal defendants at the Regional Youth Services Center in Hempfield was launched last month.

“We had a group of kids that needed to come in in late March so we went up to 16 beds. We decided we’d just rip the Band-Aid off,” Gordon said.

For several days last month, as many as 11 juveniles were housed at the center. Eight juveniles occupied beds at the facility Monday.

Originally built in 1979 to house up to 24 juvenile defendants, the facility’s capacity was reduced to 16 following a renovation completed in 2012. A six-month closure in 2023, prompted by several failed inspections that cited the facility for understaffing and training deficiencies, led the county to again scale back capacity to a maximum of eight residents when it reopened in early 2024.

Westmoreland is one of three counties, along with Allegheny and Erie, to operate juvenile detention facilities in western Pennsylvania.

Officials said an expanded center in Westmoreland could infuse additional revenue into county coffers and suggested that once a nearly $1 million project to replace original doors and locks was completed, the facility’s capacity could be expanded. Gordon said all the new doors and locks have now been installed.

Commissioners last month approved contracts with Armstrong, Greene, Beaver, Butler and Indiana counties to house juveniles in Westmoreland County at a daily rate of $800.

As of Monday, no juveniles from outside Westmoreland County have been housed at the Hempfield facility. Gordon said signed contracts with those counties are pending.

“We’ve been averaging about six to eight kids a day so this should not impact what we do,” Gordon said of housing juveniles from other counties.

No additions to the facility’s existing staff of 12 full-timers and 11 part-time workers are immediately needed to accommodate the larger capacity. However, more staff could be added as part of a proposal that would see the juvenile detention center take over the responsibility for transporting children from the facility to medical appointments and to court hearings. The county sheriff’s department currently handles those duties.

“We’re looking to see if there is an opportunity to do something that is in the best interest of the juveniles while potentially saving costs. If this frees up the sheriffs to do prison transports, all the better,” Commissioner Ted Kopas said.

Sheriff James Albert has balked at an existing court order that mandates deputies transport adult Westmoreland County Prison inmates to district court hearings. A lawsuit filed earlier this year in Westmoreland County Court that sought to end that requirement was dismissed.

Albert did not respond Monday to a request for comment.