Westmoreland boosts juvenile detention center rates, expects to double partner counties
By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive
As many as 10 counties throughout Pennsylvania could soon have deals to house detained juveniles at Hempfield’s expanded Regional Youth Services Center, Westmoreland officials said Monday.
The county this year inked contracts with Armstrong, Greene, Beaver, Butler and Indiana counties. Rich Gordon, director of Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center, said another five — Blair, Snyder, Somerset, Warren and Washington counties — are expected to agree to deals in the weeks ahead.
All 10 counties would pay Westmoreland a revised daily rate of $872, a cost figure recently approved by the state that increases from an $800 per diem approved this year.
The new daily rate mirrors the amount counties can seek as reimbursements from the state to house juveniles in detention.
“We will sign new contracts at our next meeting in July,” Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas said.
No juveniles from neighboring counties have been lodged in the detention center since its capacity was expanded to 16 in March. The center had just three juveniles in residence Monday, Gordon said.
The juvenile detention center shares the building with an unsecured eight-bed youth shelter for troubled children. The detention center operates with a $2.27 million budget in 2026.
Space leased out to other counties could generate about $80,000 in additional revenue for Westmoreland County, money that will offset operational costs.
“We expect we can fill about 100 days (with out-of-county juveniles),” Gordon said.
Westmoreland’s juvenile detention center originally opened in 1979 with a capacity of 24, but it was scaled back after the facility underwent a full renovation in 2012. The center was shuttered for six months in 2023 after state inspectors cited the facility for understaffing and training deficiencies.
The county again reduced the facility’s capacity to a maximum of eight residents when it reopened in early 2024.
Westmoreland’s juvenile detention center, along with ones in Allegheny and Erie counties, are the only three government-backed facilities in Western Pennsylvania.
