Statistics show use of center

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.comLuzerne County Reporter

About 2,300 Luzerne County youth have been sent to the controversial PA Child Care juvenile center in Township for detention since the facility opened in February 2003, according to a review of placement records.

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Another 282 went there for treatment.

In addition, 216 county youth were sent to PA Child Care’s juvenile center in western Pennsylvania, records show.

The numbers are of interest because the judge who ordered most of those placements – Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. – is awaiting sentencing on guilty pleas that he and decertified judge Michael Conahan accepted $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for decisions that led to the county’s use of both centers.

The statistics cover from the time the centers opened through the end of September 2008.

The county started using the Pittston Township center when it opened because Conahan had refused to continue sending youth to the county-owned River Street detention center in Wilkes-Barre, arguing that it was unfit. However, two state agencies had inspected the building and deemed it safe.

Detention is the temporary lodging of juvenile offenders as they wait for a judge to determine their punishment and/or treatment. A judge decides whether the offenders remain home or get placed in detention facilities.

The county’s detention center closed at the end of 2002 because Conahan, who was president judge at the time, removed the salaries of center workers from his budget and returned the center’s license to the state.

Commissioner Greg Skrepenak and former commissioner Todd Vonderheid voted in November 2004 to start leasing the Pittston Township for $58 million over 20 years.

Of the 2,300 detention placements, 1,157 occurred while the county leased the facility.

Commissioners officially ended their lease of the PA Child Care facility at the end of June 2008, after a state audit concluded that the lease was a bad deal for taxpayers.

The county still sends youth to the facility on an as-needed basis for detention. As of Thursday, only four county youth were in the facility for detention.

PA Child Care facilities are not the most heavily used option for treatment by the county. That distinction goes to Youth Services Agency, which operates Camp Adams in Jim Thorpe.

The county sent about 2,000 county juvenile offenders to that facility from July 1, 2002, through the end of September 2008, statistics show.

To see a detailed analysis of all juvenile offender placements in Luzerne County since July 1, 2000, visit www.timesleader.com

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.