Pocono News Section

Luzerne County Ends Lease at Juvenile Care Facility

Luzerne County Ends Lease at Juvenile Care Facility - Friday, December 28, 2007 at 6:04PM EST

Reported by: Mike Trim
Friday, Dec 28, 2007 @06:04pm EST
Where will Luzerne County house jailed juvenile's awaiting court dates? It's an issue now, after commissioners unanimously decide the fate of the county's only juvenile facility.

By a unanimous vote, commissioners decided to end the lease for the juvenile care facility in Pitttston Township. 24 juveniles awaiting things like court dates, and completing some parts of their sentences are housed there right now.

By the end of February, Luzerne County will no longer house juveniles at it's Pittston Township building. That decision was made Friday morning. Luzerne County commissioner Greg Skrepenak says, "this action is what we believe the state wanted us to do.

Skrepnak says the county wasn't wasting money with the lease's current setup. But Pennsylvania's Department of Welfare, or DPW, thought differently. A recent draft audit said the lease was too costly, and DPW threatened to cut funding. County manager Sam Guesto says there were two options, rewrite the lease with Pennsylvania Childcare, or mutually end it.

Guesto said, "P-A childcare came to us with that as an option. If we were just moving toward that because of lack of funding that would be one thing. We're doing it as an option from pa childcare and we're recommending that's the action that the commissioners take today."

Skrepnak says the county won't be penalized for ending the lease early. Instead, he says the county will face new costs for transporting juveniles to and from surrounding facilities. Skrepnak says, "What people don't realize is because the facility was in our backyard travel costs were greatly diminished as well as travel costs for parents."

County commissioner Steve Urban says current lease costs outweigh any new transportation costs. Urban says, "I believe that this lease has cost the taxpayers of this county, this state, this commonwealth millions and millions of dollars that they shouldn't have paid over the last four years, and I'm happy that it's terminated, and it should have never happened in the first place."

Now the county will look to surrounding counties for help housing juveniles waiting for court dates. The closest juvenile detention center from Luzerne County is in Lackawanna County. Luzerne County is obligated for housing juveniles somewhere up until their court date, but does not bear that burden for post-sentencing.