Winnebago County juvenile detention center passes PREA audit; report flags staffing, education and recreation gaps

Debbie Jarvis, Winnebago County director of court services, told the County Board on April 10 that the county’s juvenile detention center has completed the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) fiscal-year 2024 audit and a separate PREA audit, and that the facility is now PREA‑compliant.

The audit and subsequent reporting matter because they document where the detention center meets standards and where the facility needs changes to meet state and federal expectations, Jarvis said. The county is using the findings to target staffing, reporting and case‑management improvements and to pursue funding to restore full operational capacity.

Jarvis said the detention center was built in 1992 as a 32‑bed facility and expanded in 1995 to a 48‑bed facility; because of staffing and PREA requirements the current operational capacity is 40 beds and the average daily population in 2024 hovered around 30 residents, rising to 32 on the day of the report. “Currently, our operational capacity is 40 residents,” Jarvis said. “Our average daily population within the detention center hovers about 30. Currently, as of today, it is 32.”

The IDJJ audit, completed in September 2024 and received by the county in February 2025, identified both strengths and areas needing improvement. Jarvis told the board the audit praised the facility’s updated admission policies, the PREA orientation given at admission, a longstanding advocate program, and the practice of frequent confinement check‑ins. The audit also recommended improvements in discipline tracking, recreation and leisure time, and delivery of education services.

Julie McCray Gratto, superintendent of the juvenile detention center, described the PREA certification process and credited a multi‑year effort and a $75,000 Bureau of Justice Assistance grant for supporting the work. “We were first awarded the grant back in 2021,” McCray Gratto said. “There are 43 standards that you have to meet in order to fully say that you have passed your PREA audit…We were notified we successfully passed in February.” She added that the detention center is one of four in Illinois to have achieved PREA compliance at this time.

Jarvis and McCray Gratto outlined the audit’s concerns in greater detail. The auditors treat any time a youth spends isolated in their room beyond 15 minutes as a discipline concern; Jarvis said the 15‑minute check‑in requirement creates operational strain when staff shortages delay movement. The facility at times places youth with repeated disruptive incidents into separate recreation (so‑called “rec alone”) rather than group activities; the auditors recommended more inclusive recreation, but Jarvis said the center keeps some youth separated to reduce aggressive incidents.

Education coverage was another area the auditors flagged. The report expects five hours of educational services on school days and a minimum staffing model of three teachers and a paraprofessional. Jarvis said Rockford Public Schools (RPS) provides classroom instruction at the center and that staffing shortages in 2024 left the facility below the expected teacher/paraprofessional levels for much of the year. She reported that the center now has three teachers and a para and that RPS has started using an online platform, subject.com, for credit recovery; the program allows some residents to continue schoolwork on Chromebooks when behavior prevents classroom attendance.

Jarvis described immediate and planned responses: pursuing a case‑management system (SallyPort through Black Creek) to improve incident tracking and reporting, meeting repeatedly with the IDJJ auditor to clarify expectations, continuing recruitment to fill five vacant staff positions, and working with the county finance committee on a completed space‑needs study. She also said the county recently secured funding from the county’s mental health board to continue providing on‑site therapists at the center for the next two years. “We received funding from the mental health board for the next two years for our therapists at the detention center,” Jarvis said.

On funding, Jarvis said the facility is not fully reimbursed for all detention staff by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) but that AOIC has acknowledged Winnebago County’s underfunding and placed the county “high on the priority list” if state budget allocations allow.

Jarvis and McCray Gratto identified next steps including finalizing the county’s case‑management purchase, continuing recruitment and retention work, presenting the space‑needs analysis to the finance committee, and monitoring PREA‑related staffing adjustments. Jarvis said the space‑needs study will be presented to the finance committee the following week. She invited board members to tour the facility and said staff would continue work to align operations with audit expectations.

The presentation did not include any formal board action on the detention center at the April 10 meeting; board members received the report and heard staff explain the audits and planned responses.