From the report by KOAM's Lisa Olliges:
The detention is old and creates maintenance challenges for Jasper county.
It failed a recent fire inspection forcing repairs.
Jasper county commissioner Darieus Adams says, "We needed to do some adjustments to the heat and air and to the hot water system. We had to fix a couple door locks and had to fix a couple smoke detectors to bring it back into compliance."
But it's not capable of keeping offenders overnight. So juvenile officers, often stretched thin for resources, drive youth to the Greene county juvenile detention center in Springfield,
Local police say it won't impact how they deal with offenders. But it would be easier to have a facility here.KOAM TV 7
We are LONG overdue for a new facility. Ideally, a new facility will have a courtroom within it. Perhaps retrofitting of the old Emerson or Washington schools could provide an option, If local officials were better equipped to bring down federal money, there are grants available to make this sort of thing happen.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this story, Newton and McDonald counties are also sending juveniles to Springfield--why not a shared facility in a more central location along 49?
ReplyDeleteBecause the 40th Circuit is lucky to have a single circuit judge and by and large is poor. There's zero money in housing youth offenders and zero cash to build one or maintain it. The 40th releases a huge amount of youthful offenders already
ReplyDeleteAdd bars to some of the athletic wing rooms at Joplin High and use that for a juvenile center--it already looks like an industrial-style prison and that's where all of the money in town seems to end up.
ReplyDeletethose boys better be careful in greene county...banjo heard playing in the background
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