More than a year after Allegheny County reopened its juvenile detention facility with a new name, new management, and a newly renovated building, the board meant to oversee operations held its first meeting on Wednesday.
“It’s important for the public to have an eye on what’s going on at our juvenile detention facilities,” county executive Sara Innamorato told reporters after the meeting. “And this advisory board serves as that through line between the public and the operations of that facility.”
The board has lain dormant since September 2021, when the former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center shut down after the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services revoked its license to operate. It reopened as Highland Detention at Shuman in the summer of 2024, with Latrobe-based nonprofit Adelphoi operating the facility.
The state-mandated advisory board is meant to allow a community perspective on the operations at Shuman. It’s responsible for compiling an annual report recommending a budget for facility maintenance, but it otherwise has no power.
“You don’t have the authority to order either [the county Department of Human Services, which also oversees the facility] or Adelphoi to do anything,” assistant county solicitor John Bacharach told members.
The Court of Common Pleas and state DHS have the statutory authority to intervene if DHS were to determine that Adelphoi mismanaged the facility.
The board instead holds “moral authority to bring [issues] to the attention” of Adelphoi, the county, and the public, Bacharach said.
Board members include local experts and advocates from the juvenile legal system.
Common Pleas Judge Tiffany Sizemore, Gwen’s Girls CEO Kathi Elliott, Reimagine Reentry executive director Richard Garland, FISA Foundation executive director Kristy Trautmann, and Dr. Terri Collin Dilmore, a clinical and forensic psychologist and assistant professor at Howard University, were appointed by Innamorato. Court of Common Pleas president, Judge Susan Evashavik, chose Common Pleas Judge Jennifer McCrady, Café Momentum executive director Cheyenne Tyler, and Dr. Edward Mulvey, a professor of psychiatry emeritus and former director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Innamorato and County Controller Corey O’Connor round out the board, though state law allows both to appoint designees to attend in their place.
While the meeting mostly offered a chance for the 10-member board to become better acquainted with the facility they’ll be charged to oversee, they seemed eager to begin work. Many said they hoped to tour the detention center in the coming weeks.
They examined a county dashboard tracking the facility’s population. Since July 2024, 267 boys have been detained there, and 85% were Black, though Black people account for less than 14% of the county’s overall population.
Members also received an update on construction at the facility.
Only one 12-bed pod opened last year; the remaining four pods, which will provide space for up to 60 children in total, have yet to be built. Delays have hampered the renovations, and though the state was expected to help fund up to 50% of project costs, the budget impasse in Harrisburg has left it unclear how much money it will contribute.
Though the timeline is subject to change, Dalton told the board the next two pods won’t be open until mid-2027. The remaining pods are expected to come online in late 2028.
When asked by reporters about the timeline, Innamorato noted that the building “had not been updated in decades” prior to the renovations currently taking place.
“This is a county facility that needs a lot of attention just to get it up to the right standards,” she said.
The 16 children currently held at Allegheny County Jail will not be moved to the justice center until additional pods are complete.
Innamorato said officials have been pleased with Adelphoi’s management.
“This advisory board is another step in that direction of collaboration and making sure we’re balancing the needs of the public safety with the needs of the boys and girls who were caught up in the juvenile detention system,” she said.
Starting in January, the board will meet every other month on the third Thursday of the month.