LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — Wayne County officials defended their response to the crisis unfolding inside its juvenile detention facility Wednesday, blaming meager resources from the state and calling for a surge in new funding.
“We have an emergency on our hands, that’s why we declared it,” said Wayne County Health Director Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. “We are going to try to do everything we possibly can to get these kids the services that they need and deserve.”
Tuesday, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans declared a public health state of emergency, calling the juvenile jail holding about 140 youth unsafe.
The declaration came following an allegation last week by a 12-year-old boy who said he was physically and sexually assaulted. The allegation was first reported by the Detroit Free Press.
State police are currently investigating the claim, which prompted the suspension of seven county employees and the firing of a top county official.
Deputy County Executive Assad Turfe told the Senate subcommittee that the facility’s population today is nearly twice what it can safely hold, and blamed a lack of state-licensed residential facilities to safely discharge children to after their court cases concluded.
“We went from 400 or 500 (state licensed) beds down to 160,” he said. “If those beds are not online, we have nowhere to send the kids for treatment, so they end up sitting in our facility.”
With fewer places to discharged children to, Turfe said, they stack up inside the county jail, where they're likely to act out with violence.
He urged the legislature to appropriate $150 million to provide more residential beds and bring down the backlog.
“Our average stay has gone from 21 days in our custody do 127 days and, in one instance, a child was in our custody for 800 days," he said.
The overcrowding problem is made worse by a severe staff shortage.
“We’ve had 60 juvenile detention specialists who have been assaulted since October, “ he said. “A lot of folks don’t want to do this work.”
For its part, officials with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services are faulting the county for the chaos unfolding inside at the jail, saying this is a failure of supervision.
The county insists they were never intended to be provide long-term housing for these youth — many with violent histories — and said the state needs to commit funding to help bring more residential beds online.
As a result of the chaos unfolding every day, children spend almost every hour of the day locked in the room.
“They’re locked up most of the day and they come out for one or two hours a day for recreational time, and every other day for showers,” Turfe said. “We do acknowledge that’s an issue.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
