Update (9/22/23): Allegheny County Council may vote Tuesday on whether to file a lawsuit demanding the 15-member legislative body has a say in the reopening of the county’s Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.
The county announced last week that it would hire private company Adelphoi to reopen and run the center, which has been shuttered since September 2021. A barrage of criticism of the private-sector plan followed, from activists and politicians alike — including Council President Pat Catena.
Council’s agenda for its Sept. 26 meeting includes a motion directing the body’s solicitor to file suit in the Court of Common Pleas, essentially asking a judge to confirm that the county’s Home Rule Charter gives council the power to approve or strike down the Adelphoi contract.
According to the proposed motion, council’s case would be rooted in the charter’s language giving council the duty to pass ordinances to lease or permit use of county property. The motion also notes that County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has frequently sought council’s approval for contracts involving county-owned property in the past.
A representative for Fitzgerald told PublicSource last week that the contract is being handled by the judicial branch. Neither Fitzgerald’s representative nor a court spokesperson responded immediately to requests for comment Friday as to whether they think council has to approve the Adelphoi contract.
Catena predicted council would easily approve the motion to file a lawsuit. “I think we were all pretty much in agreement that we didn’t want a third party” to run the Shuman Center, he said.
If a judge puts the brakes on the Adelphoi contract, even temporarily, it could delay plans to begin housing youth at the Shuman Center this year. It could even push the process into next year, when a new county executive takes over for Fitzgerald — and both candidates for that post said last week they oppose privatizing the center.
Reported 9/15/23:
Plan to put private firm in charge of Allegheny County juvenile detention revealed and criticized
Allegheny County announced plans on Friday to reopen its juvenile detention center two years after closing it due to failed state inspections. The county plans to contract with a private company, Adelphoi, to run the center, a decision that has already sparked backlash from advocates and county council members.
“I have said I am opposed to Adelphoi running anything because they’ve been involved in prior scandals,” said County Council President Pat Catena, who said he was “distraught” over the decision.
There have been multiple allegations in recent years of Adelphoi employees sexually abusing minors. The county has had multi-million-dollar contracts with Latrobe-based Adelphoi for years, for other youth services such as foster care.
Reached for comment on the allegations, an Adelphoi spokesperson said in an email that the group “is well-recognized as a quality organization with exemplary outcomes, and we stand behind our half-century track record of providing complex services in challenging situations with an unceasing eye toward our mission.”
A Friday press release from the county’s court system said that renovations to the now-closed Shuman Juvenile Detention Center facility in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood will begin in October and conclude by the end of the year. Adelphoi will begin operations with capacity for 12 youth at first, with space for 60 ultimately planned.
“Adelphoi has a proven track record as a leading and highly respected agency that provides all levels of trauma-informed and evidence-based [services] for delinquent and dependent children,” President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark said in the press release. “This is a crucial step toward creating a safer and more supportive environment for juveniles in the county.”
Catena said County Council members were not informed of the decision until five minutes before it was publicly announced.
Tanisha Long, a community organizer with the Abolitionist Law Center, was also alarmed at allegations against Adelphoi, saying “Allegheny County citizens have said they do not want a private company doing juvenile detention.”
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Both Catena and Long questioned the timing of the decision, just months before a new county executive is elected and takes office in January.
“Presumably they’ve entered into a long-term contract with this group, so I wonder what the executive candidates think about this plan,” Catena said.
County Executive Rich Fitzgerald approved the Shuman Center’s closure two years ago instead of appealing the state’s order for the site to close due to repeated violations. Since then, law enforcement and elected officials repeatedly said the county needed the center open, blaming some of Pittsburgh’s violent crime on the fact that juvenile offenders were being sent home instead of to detention.
Fitzgerald remained publicly quiet on the issue, but his administration released a request for proposals in late 2022 seeking a private partner to operate the center. Numerous council members and advocates opposed that idea at the time.
“Private companies are out to make money and that’s not generally in the public’s interest,” County Controller Corey O’Connor said in an Oct. 24 interview.
Fitzgerald’s spokesperson Amie Downs said in an email Friday that the Adelphoi contract is being handled by the courts and that the administration is “supporting them in addressing the juvenile court placement needs that they have.”
“That responsibility lies with the courts, regardless of who is in the office of County Executive,” Downs said.
The candidates for county executive in this year’s election, one of whom will be responsible for the Shuman Center starting in January, both said they oppose the decision on Friday.
Republican nominee Joe Rockey, who has criticized the decision to close the center in the first place, said that while he’s in favor of opening a juvenile detention and rehabilitation center, “I do not think Allegheny County should outsource the custody of its children.”
Democratic nominee Sara Innamorato said the county needs a “small, highly specialized” juvenile detention center but that it should be “run by a public and unionized workforce” instead of a private contractor.
“Children in custody were harmed while at Shuman and we cannot have a repeat of those events,” Innamorato said in a statement, nodding to incidents that surfaced before the facility closed in 2021.
Court spokesperson Joe Asturi said he could not disclose how much the county will pay Adelphoi because the contract is still under negotiation.
Adelphoi in an email to PublicSource indicated that it “has already begun to foster relationships with organizations, schools, healthcare organizations and businesses” in advance of its enhanced role with Allegheny County.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include additional reaction to the announcement and additional information provided by Adelphoi.
Charlie Wolfson is PublicSource’s local government reporter and a Report for America corps member. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
