SC DJJ must start housing newly-arrested Richland County teens next month amid overcrowding concerns

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - In a few short weeks, the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) must start housing teens who are arrested in Richland County.

Starting August 1, Alvin S. Glenn Detention, the county jail, will not take in any more juveniles.

While the move, approved unanimously by Richland County council in June, is intended to ease the burden on jail officials, DJJ says this will only exacerbate already troubling overcrowding conditions.

DJJ Executive Director Eden Hendrick previously told WIS that the county’s decision to close the jail’s juvenile wing came “out of the blue.”

Crayman Harvey, the jail director, told the council at a meeting on Tuesday night that they are working to give the agency enough time to adjust and take appropriate action.

“We have aggressively been speaking with DJJ leadership in having a smooth transition plan with sending the kids over to them,” he said.

Part of that plan means holding these youth in the jail beyond August.

The county said as of Wednesday, 32 juveniles must be moved to the DJJ facility come November.

However, any newly arrested teenagers starting next month will need to be located at DJJ’s Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) on Shivers Road in Columbia.

Hendrick told WIS in a May interview that the agency does not have room for these youth.

“This makes our difficult situation even worse with our overcrowding that we’re experiencing now,” she said.

Overcrowding at the JDC has been has been a persistent problem for several years, a spokesperson said.

The agency cited the pandemic, legislation that raised the minimum age for teenagers to be considered adults from 17 to 18 and the closure of Greenville County’s juvenile wing as contributing factors.

DJJ numbers presented to the state legislature show that over the last two years, the JDC was consistently over its 72-person capacity.

At points last year, the numbers show that as many as 134 youth were housed there at one time.

“During the summer it tends to go up, our numbers tend to go up, so if we added another 25 we would be almost double capacity,” Hendrick said in May. “No, that is not a good situation for anyone.”

The agency is also under federal scrutiny.

As a result of a 2022 settlement with the Department of Justice, every six months a monitoring committee issues a report on compliance with that agreement.

The latest report, released in April, continues to find non-compliance in several areas, including one that requires safe living conditions.

One factor listed as contributing to that non-compliance is frequent staff turnover.

“The frequency of staffing changes has made it challenging to maintain momentum in establishing a new culture that focuses on positive youth development and rehabilitation,” the report stated. “When staff see leadership changing so often, they are less likely to move forward with change processes, especially if the changes are difficult or not viewed as important and there is no accountability.”

A former DJJ employee, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, detailed similar concerns in an interview with WIS News 10 before this latest report was released.

“They lie on the youth,” the ex-employee said. “A lot of things are happening because of the lack of security, the lack of support and most of the people that are in these managerial positions aren’t equipped to be in these positions.”

WIS requested an interview with Hendrick about this plan and the path forward but was told that she was unavailable on Wednesday.

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