Open the door today, and a new mural installed by Hadnot\u2019s team shows a child\u2019s silhouette leaning against a tree, staring into a pastel blue sky painted across the walls. Yellow and black butterflies float under white letters: \u201cBelieve in yourself when no one else does.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A regulation room separates youth and allows them to reset in the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Dallas. The walls were recently painted with various motivational murals.<\/p>\n
Christine Vo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Breaking News<\/p>\n
By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Soon there will be bean bag chairs, music, maybe calming aromatics \u2013 a place where children overwhelmed with the reality of their incarceration can come to recenter their emotions.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can still promote safety and security without it looking so harshly institutionalized,\u201d Hadnot said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re dealing with children.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time the nine-member Juvenile Board hired Hadnot in February, his predecessor had resigned, dozens of staff left or were fired and county officials said those failures confirmed by state investigators had been corrected.<\/p>\n The community was demanding deeper reform. Throughout his first nine months, Hadnot has ushered changes in staff culture and youth programming, and also launched incentive-based policies \u2013 all aimed at building public trust and a new approach to juvenile justice in Dallas County.<\/p>\n H. Lynn Hadnot, director of Dallas County Juvenile Services, (left) hugs motivational speaker Keidrain Brewster in the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Dallas. Brewster came to speak to the youth as a mentor.<\/p>\n Christine Vo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n While Hadnot said reforms are still underway, community leaders who raised the alarm about conditions last year said the new administration has been transformative.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring our protest I made the statement, and I stand by it, that dogs in Dallas County were treated better than our young people,\u201d said Michael W. Waters, pastor of Abundant Life African Methodist Episcopal Church. \u201cI will say I\u2019ve been very encouraged by the progress that has been made within a very short expanse of time.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Before Hadnot took over, problems in the detention center spanned multiple administrations.<\/p>\n The juvenile department is more than just the detention center, which now houses roughly 90 children. With a department budget of $80 million, 800 employees and nearly 3,200 kids referred to the system this year, the department operates multiple programs in Dallas County. But it was as if children in detention were not \u201cseen and treated as human beings,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n Teens wait in line for food during the fall festival at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The state\u2019s yearlong investigation released in late 2024 concluded excessive seclusion in the Special Needs Unit began before former director Darryl Beatty was appointed in 2018.<\/p>\n Beatty resigned in July 2024 amid the probe and did not respond to a phone call or text message for comment. Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon, the longtime chair of the Juvenile Board overseeing the department, also did not respond to a phone call or email for this story.<\/p>\n District Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon, who chairs the Juvenile Board, leads a board meeting in the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Christine Vo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n After the board appointed Michael Griffiths, a veteran corrections official to serve as interim director upon Beatty\u2019s exit, he said violations identified by the state were corrected. But it began the search for long-term change.<\/p>\n Hadnot said he felt a calling when Griffiths asked him to apply. He spent most of his career in Collin County\u2019s Juvenile Probation Department, climbing from probation officer to director over 20 years, and becoming a statewide leader as chair of the Texas Juvenile Justice Advisory Council.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing right by kids is something that\u2019s very personal to me,\u201d Hadnot said. \u201cI believe this is literally what I was put on this planet for.\u201d<\/p>\n His administration began with changing the punitive discipline focus to evidence-based incentive policies such as allowing juveniles to earn rewards for good behavior. <\/p>\n Teens shoot the basketball during the fall festival at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Now kids can earn tickets to purchase Pringles, Swiss Rolls and other treats in a \u201cstore\u201d set up in a locker in the detention center. Staff is raising money for a game room with televisions and video games reserved for kids who buy access with good behavior.<\/p>\n \u201cThe punishment is already being in this building,\u201d said Michael King, who was recruited by Hadnot as superintendent of pre-adjudication programs. \u201cIf we offer programming, normalcy, we\u2019re going to much better prepare that kid to go back into the community a better version of themselves than if we just punish, punish, punish, punish.\u201d<\/p>\n State standards allow kids to be secluded up to 48 hours at a time, but Hadnot only allows it for up to eight hours and for cases where safety is a concern. <\/p>\n In every instance of seclusion, which occurs in dorm rooms, the child receives mental health check-ins by clinical staff, pairing a therapeutic response to the discipline.<\/p>\n The administration adopted electronic badge systems for officers to make required check-ins on youth in their rooms, replacing the handwritten sheets falsified by previous staff. The technology switch was in motion before Hadnot\u2019s February arrival, but County Commissioner Andrew Sommerman said the implementation overlapped with the transparency Hadnot is championing. <\/p>\n \u201cYou walk through where the parents meet their kids and the parents know (Hadnot\u2019s) name; they have his personal phone information,\u201d Sommerman said, noting he had not seen that under the last administration.<\/p>\n On a recent Saturday, kids earned the privilege to attend a fall festival in the gymnasium where a juvenile recreation coordinator was doubling that day as a DJ.<\/p>\n Teens play musical chairs during the fall festival at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n They played musical chairs as balloons floated around them and sat together to dine on hot dogs, chips, punch and Twinkies.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is trying to give them something to look forward to,\u201d King said. \u201cIt\u2019s normalcy.\u201d<\/p>\n Reform meant changing the way staff reported to work and interacted with kids, too. Early this year about 50% of positions were vacant following the exodus amid the state investigation. Others regularly called out sick, leaving a strained staff deeply disconnected to the kids, said detention officer Demond Porter.<\/p>\n (From left) Nurse Brandi Diggles and JSO Jazmin Montanez smile as they serve food during the fall festival at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Hadnot implemented a 12-hour shift schedule to give officers three or four days off in a row to recharge from demanding work. Eighty call-outs a month plummeted to single digits. Staffing levels reached 85%. <\/p>\n To meet his vision, Hadnot recruited new leadership. Five new administrators are people he\u2019s worked with over the past 20 years, while he promoted other longtime officials he said have clear dedication to children. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to do so much good,\u201d said Ryan Bristow, deputy director of executive and administrative services, who left the Texas Juvenile Justice Department for the role this year.<\/p>\n (From left) Ryan Bristow, Deputy Director of Executive & Administrative Services, and superintendent of detention Mike King chat during the fall festival at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Staff are expected to be constantly on the floor, interacting with kids between classes, meals, recreation time — a shift from what Porter remembered under the last administration where he began as a detention officer in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI was fresh out of college,\u201d Porter said, \u201cand I thought this is how it\u2019s supposed to be \u2013 kids behind a door. That was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Hadnot\u2019s team also addressed glaring blind spots. To his surprise, classrooms didn\u2019t have security cameras, so they installed them. Other cameras in the detention facility lacked sound, which he fixed.<\/p>\n Between February and October, violent incidents dropped by 90%, according to Hadnot.<\/p>\n Teens eat hot dogs during the fall festival at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center in Dallas on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n On a Monday in October, staff hauled nine chairs to the middle of a dormitory. The boys took their seats, and Keidran Brewster began explaining he was once in their shoes \u2013 in generational trauma many children endure before their time in the system.<\/p>\n Brewster detailed his years in and out of juvenile detention as a child and jail as an adult. He talked about the glorification of gangs he deeply regrets and the death of his 16-year-old brother from gun violence.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d give anything to be able to go back and tell my brother what I\u2019m telling y\u2019all,\u201d Brewster said. \u201cWhy show my little brother how to gangbang when I can show him how to open up a successful company? It\u2019s so many opportunities you have but you\u2019re not giving yourself a fair chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Motivational speaker Keidrain Brewster shares his story with the youth in the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Dallas. Brewster spent 13 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n Christine Vo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n The visit was part of a \u201ccredible messenger\u201d program Hadnot brought to detention where mentors and speakers deliver inspiration to kids who need to hear it the most \u2014 and to fill empty time that previously dotted kids\u2019 days. <\/p>\n Elizabeth Henneke, CEO of the Lonestar Justice Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for juvenile justice reforms, said the new incentives do not mean soft peddling detention. <\/p>\n In 2024, her alliance heard from parents of kids in the system about the prior administration restricting family visitation as a punitive measure, using excessive isolation and ignoring filthy conditions. <\/p>\n She said the shift to incentive-based policies is a best practice rooted in years of research. Books were previously not allowed in dorms for fear kids would throw them. Now books in rooms are a privilege that can be lost \u2013 because, Hadnot asked, isn\u2019t that what you\u2019d want for your own child? <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we know is that young peoples\u2019 brains are so much more motivated by incentives than they are by changing their behavior by punishment,\u201d Henneke said. \u201cWhat director Hadnot is really doing is making sure that stark, alarming detention is paired with the types of incentives that change behavior permanently so those young people don\u2019t have to come back to the system.\u201d<\/p>\n H. Lynn Hadnot, director of Dallas County Juvenile Services, stands in the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Dallas. Hadnot started the position in February.<\/p>\n Christine Vo \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n It may be too early to see if data backs up the effectiveness of the changes. Recidivism \u2013 the rate kids return to the system on new offenses \u2013 must be monitored over years, Henneke said. But through work underway in the district attorney\u2019s office since 2023, more kids are being referred to community-based programming in lieu of detention.<\/p>\n Still, Hadnot acknowledged there is more to be done. <\/p>\n In September, juvenile detention officer Stephen Puzio was arrested and fired after allegedly assaulting a 15-year-old and putting him in a headlock.<\/p>\n Hadnot declined to discuss the case citing the active investigation but said he is focused on mitigating risks, even when the human condition causes people to fail.<\/p>\n Henneke and Waters, the community activist and pastor, said families are urging the department to contract with a new food vendor to replace the current service that is nearly inedible. Hadnot said that is underway and he hopes to put a contract out to bid in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n Although Hadnot has removed partitions that previously separated families and children during visitation, the Lonestar Justice Alliance is pushing for contact visits to allow hugging. <\/p>\n Hadnot said he wants that too but is configuring staffing and security measures. <\/p>\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s been a transformative change for Dallas County,\u201d Waters said, \u201cand a marked step toward putting youth at the center.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center, the Regulation Room is still windowless and lit by the glare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[294,102,581,104,103,223,287],"class_list":{"0":"post-85402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-county","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"H.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DDIUDS2VKVGRLKGCME2FWBITMA.jpg\")
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