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Berks County outlines regional plan for housing violent juveniles; officials say facility likely two years away
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Summary
County operations staff told commissioners the plan is to partner with four or more counties on a regional juvenile detention facility focused on treatment and programming for a small number of violent youths; officials said the facility is not expected to open for about two years.
Berks County officials described a regional approach to house a small number of violent juveniles, saying the plan aims to keep youth in-state and provide treatment and programming rather than relying on out‑of‑state placements or problematic private facilities.
The chief operations officer told the board the county has been working with four other counties and said two more counties agreed to join the effort the night before the meeting. “We reached out to other counties. And over the last year and a half, we've been able to pull together ourselves as well as 4 other counties,” the officer said, adding that the next step is operational work: “Now the hard work begins. We won't open this for about 2 years.”
Officials emphasized that the plan is intended for a very small number of juveniles who meet a high-risk threshold — the county described the population as violent offenders (assault, battery, attempted murder, murder) who currently may be sent to facilities out of state. The chair contrasted the proposed approach with private options, saying a nearby private facility, Abraxas, had posed problems for multiple counties in the past.
The chief operations officer said the regional model will limit bed counts, focus on treatment and programming and rely on partner counties to make the model viable. County officials did not provide a detailed budget, a precise bed count beyond describing the group as “a handful,” or a firm location; they said the construction and operational timeline is expected to take roughly two years.
No formal vote or procurement action for a facility was recorded during the meeting; commissioners heard the planning update as part of the operations report and discussed next steps for regional coordination.
Next steps: county staff will continue inter-county coordination and planning, and officials said they will return with further operational details as they are developed.
