Tippecanoe County Commissioners OK construction of juvenile detention facility
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Local leaders have wanted to construct a juvenile detention facility in Tippecanoe County for years, and on Monday, the Tippecanoe County Commissioners approved its development.
The juvenile detention center will either be a 15,665- or 20,103-square-foot facility near the county’s Cary Home for Children facility located at 1530 S. 18th St. in Lafayette.
DLZ Indiana, the architect, engineering and construction firm hired by the county, presented two facility options from which to pick. Both options contain similar features.
The juvenile detention facility will have 24 single cells that are separated into four secured dayrooms, program classrooms, indoor recreation rooms, medical areas, holding cells and administration areas.
The project is expected to cost about $15.5 million. However, when compared to the current cost that the county pays to ship its juveniles to detention facilities across the state, the county ultimately will save money with this new detention center, Tippecanoe County Commissioner Dave Byers explained.
During May’s commissioners' meeting, Rebecca Humphrey, the executive director of the county’s Cary Home for Children also emphasized the growing need for the facility.
“We need to get those kids in a juvenile facility that we can control and manage and get them the services and support that they need to be successful,” Humphrey said. “Please do this. That’s my words of wisdom.”
Over the years, the county routinely sent the county’s juvenile delinquents to facilities in the surrounding counties and across the state after they are adjudicated in an attempt to be rehabilitated.
However, because of a recent change in the law, the demand for space within juvenile detention facilities has grown, and in turn, so have the costs.
“The law changed made it so juveniles who are in the adult court have to be held in juvenile facilities. Juveniles who are in the juvenile court have to be held in juvenile facilities,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey told commissioners that Tippecanoe County housing its juveniles in other counties' detention facilities does not meet the goal of rehabilitating kids.
“What’s happening right now is that our kids are all over the state trying to figure out how we could get them good legal representation, how we can get them family contact and get them integrated back into their families," Humphrey said. “We can’t get them back into the schools because they’re not getting any schoolwork and falling behind in their grades.”
Humphrey reassured commissioners that the county’s youth service would be able to utilize staff and facilities at Cary Home for Children to address concerns about staffing a new juvenile detention center.
While the Tippecanoe County Commissioners approved the development of the new juvenile detention center, the final decision falls to the Tippecanoe County Council.
Byers believed that the juvenile detention center will be approved because three council members worked closely to get the project ready for the commissioners and council member's approval.
Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on X at 1NoePadilla.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: County commissioners OK development of juvenile detention facility
