New Durham County Youth Home moves ahead despite community objections

Plans moved forward this week for a new Durham County Youth Home that will let more young people in the juvenile justice system stay closer to home now that state law prohibits housing them in jail with adults.

The Durham Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 Monday night to hire Raleigh-based Bordeaux Construction Co. for the nearly $27.6 million project at 2432 Broad St.

The new 36-bed facility will replace an existing 14-bed facility on the site, which is currently shared with Durham County Emergency Management. The existing home will be demolished after the new building is occupied.

“By building this new facility the county ensures that youth remain in Durham and provides a safe therapeutic facility for them to be housed,” said Angela Nunn, the director of the youth home.

But not all support the project.

The county received more than 100 public comments before Monday’s meeting, many of them asking the commissioners to reject the project or postpone their vote.

A coalition of community groups sent a letter offering suggestions about preventive measures for at-risk youth and spoke against building the new detention center.

“We believe that Durham should be investing in the youth and more mental health support services. And what has shown to be harmful is youth detention itself,” said Tyler Whittenberg, a social justice attorney and the deputy director of the Advancement Project, one of the groups in the coalition.

“It isolates students from their peers and from pro-social relationships, and it alienates them and identifies them as a threat — it’s actually anti-therapeutic, “ he added.

Despite the opposition, one state lawmaker wrote the county in favor of having the new facility built.

“Durham’s juvenile justice-engaged children who pose a risk to community safety deserve to be placed in an upgraded, state of the art facility,” wrote state Rep. and former judge Marcia Morey, a Durham Democrat. “The current youth home is in disrepair, unsafe and not worthy to house children who are ordered into detention by judges.”

Plans followed teen’s jail suicide

Durham County agreed to build a new youth home in 2019 after the death of 16-year-old Niecey Fennel helped juvenile justice professionals and others in North Carolina see the dangers of incarcerating young people and adults together. The Durham teen killed herself by hanging in the Durham County jail.

The average age range for juveniles housed at the Durham County Youth Home is 14 to 17 years old.

The new, expanded facility will be designed to offer best practices after the state’s “Raise the Age” law took effect in December 2019. It gives more time in the juvenile justice system to older teens who might otherwise have been prosecuted as adults.

The current youth home was built in 1983. Nunn said it has only one small classroom unsuitable for middle or high school students, but the new building will have three classrooms designed with new technologies.

“With the Raise the Age population, we are seeing juveniles who are larger, staying longer and who may have some learning disabilities that may require us to place them in other settings other than the one classroom we currently have,” Nunn explained.

A new component of the facility is the Assessment Center which will use a holistic approach to support juveniles beyond simple detention. Health care providers working with teens in the current home’s cramped conditions will also get new space.

“In the new facility, [they] will be able to do better assessments during the intake process,” Nunn said. “The assessment component is something that we are really proud of where we will have a intervention and prevention tools for us to address the traumatic incidents they have had.”

According to documents, the new facility will use a holistic assessment approach to support juveniles beyond simple detention. Service partners for the assessment center will include the N.C. Department of Public Safety Juvenile Court Services, Durham Public Schools, Alliance Health and the Durham County Department of Social Services.

The new facility will allow for the expansion of current services, including counseling, mental health, educational, visitation, volunteer programs, recreational, and nutritional needs.

This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 1:22 PM.