What a discussion in Durham reveals about the nuances in decarceration
In 2017, 17-year-old Uniece Fennell died by suicide in the Durham County Jail. Julia Graves, Fennell’s mother, says she had a history of self-harming and wasn’t getting help within the facility or prior to her arrest. She was also being bullied by adult women in the jail.
The tragedy bore new laws in North Carolina for 16- and 17-year-olds charged in crimes. Instead of automatically being tried as adults, they would be tried as juveniles in some cases. It also led to a settlement between Fennell’s family and Durham County, where the county agreed to consider expanding its youth home or “develop some reasonable alternative plan” that would keep adults and youth offenders separate.
In recent months, the county has cited the settlement when discussing plans to build a 36-bed, $30 million youth detention center for the county to replace the 14-bed facility that Durham currently operates. While the settlement was signed in 2019, the plan has been in the works for six years. The project was approved unanimously in December 2021, in spite of a recommendation from the Community Safety and Wellness Task Force that said the commissioners should wait another six months to get adequate public comment.
Both sides agree there should be fewer young people in detention centers, but the likelihood of achieving that goal varies. The discussion is made more complicated by a long-term look at NC crime statistics, which shows a steady decline in the number of people under 18 being arrested for both violent crime and property crimes over the last decade, per the state’s 2020 crime report. It creates a debate without a unanimous conclusion.
The county government sees the new detention center as a necessary evil. The alternative, they say, is sending young people to youth detention centers run by the state and located outside Durham County. They have spoken on the plan for rehabilitative instruction, as well as a way for the center to serve the community’s mental health needs through an assessment center.
Durham Beyond Policing and the Youth Heal in Communities Not Cages coalition aren’t convinced of the county’s intentions. Manju Rajendran, the interim director of Durham Beyond Policing, says the elected officials have brushed off their concerns. “They simply haven’t had to actually make a case for this youth detention center because they’ve been having the conversation with themselves for six years,” she says.
Graves spoke at a November town hall held by Durham Beyond Policing. “I don’t believe that just putting them in jail is the answer, I don’t want more beds made, but I want something in place,” she said. Later, she said she could understand a few beds, but that “60 is a little too much.”
Commissioners have reiterated that the current plan is for 36 beds to accommodate the influx of young people after the state enacted Raise the Age. Durham Beyond Policing cites a January 2021 presentation from Moseley Architects, the builders on the project, that included a potential expansion that would create 24 additional beds. The second expansion is not set in stone, but Moseley Architects has been reported to promote jail expansion with inaccurate and dated assumptions.
Kerwin Pittman, a criminal justice activist, also sees the center as a Catch-22. He says it’s clear whose voices are the most important in this conversation.
“Those closest to the pain should be closest to the power, and what that means and what that will look like in this situation is those who have been through these youth detention centers,” Pittman says.
Durham Beyond Policing has offered solutions that don’t involve congregate living for dozens of people. Graves says she’d like to see programs similar to those in California, where there are more expansive services to keep kids engaged in extracurricular activities and keep families engaged in their child’s lives.
For these detention centers to work and rehabilitate youth, it’s important for the youth and their families to be part of all levels of planning, and not feel dismissed by the municipal government.
