May 17, 2024 By Amy Fauth 4 min read

Fayette County is one step closer to transforming its former jail annex into a juvenile detention center after the county commissioners awarded the project Thursday to a third-party, nonprofit organization that runs a similar facility in Grove City.

George Junior Republic, which operates a licensed, secure detention program on its 500-plus- acre campus in Grove City, was the only agency to respond to the county’s request for qualifications (RFQ) for a center to house 12 to 15 youth at the annex located at Rear 61 E. Main St. in Uniontown.

Citing the lack of beds in juvenile detention and the expenses incurred by the county in the form of man hours, overtime, gas and other costs related to transporting juveniles to facilities in Reading and Johnstown, and as far as Jefferson County in eastern Ohio, the commissioners said this will save the county money in the long run.

“There’s not a lot of juvenile detention beds in Southwestern Pennsylvania, so this will help solve that need,” Commissioner Scott Dunn said.

In 2023, the Juvenile Court Judges’ Association reported that 15 juvenile detention facilities in Pennsylvania closed between 2006 and 2021. As of the date of the report, only 13 facilities in Pennsylvania that provided secure detention services were still operating, offering just over 400 staff-secured beds for juvenile offenders.

Last year, the 16-bed juvenile detention center in nearby Westmoreland County was shuttered due to dangerously low staffing, but has since reopened. The Shuman Detention Center in Allegheny County, which once held up to 120 youths, closed in 2021.

“Even though we’re not going to financially benefit from any contract with George Junior Republic, this does save the county a substantial amount of money,” said Dunn. “This is a good thing. We will have a local solution to this.”

In addition to housing Fayette County detainees, the facility will also accept juveniles from outside the county when space is available.

The need to transfer juveniles became necessary in 2022 when the county’s juvenile detention center on Cleveland Street closed.

The county worked with the Department of Human Services and the county’s juvenile probation office to craft the RFQ, which included a number of details, like proposed provisions for sleeping, dining, education and medical care in the detention center. Respondents also had to include plans for hiring, recruitment, retention and training of staff, including security, counselors, educators, medical staff, and administrators.

Additionally, interested organizations had to explain past experience and expertise in designing and running a juvenile detention center.

George Junior Republic is more than adequately qualified to operate the detention center, according to the commissioners.

According to Dunn, the agency comes highly recommended from the other counties with whom it’s worked, such as Lycoming and Mercer, and the state’s Department of Human Services, which reported that GJR was recently “deemed in full-compliance and in good standing” with the department.

As part of the RFQ process, GJR inspected the facility and believes there is adequate infrastructure and space to meet the sleeping, dining, education, recreation and medical needs of 12 to 15 youth, along with administrative staff and functions.

However, the current facility will require renovations at a preliminary projected cost of $800,000.

GJR proposed to construct 12 to 15 sleeping quarters located around the outside perimeter of the current space. Security including a redundant fob and passcode-secured access control system and video surveillance in all common areas would need to be installed. Additionally, juveniles would need to enter or exit via secured transportation.

Medical care would be handled by a local health-care provider while meals would be either prepared on-site or provided under contract with a local food service purveyor.

Operation of the facility would be handled fully by GJR, including recruiting, hiring, training, administration and programming.

“I think it’s a good decision,” said Commissioner Vince Vicites. “We have the facility and it’s really geared toward a minimum-security type of correctional facility.

“I think it’s win-win, and I’m just glad it’s moving forward,” Vicites said.