Delaware County joins regional detention agreement with Berks County for eight shared secure beds

Deputy Executive Director Chris Welsh told the Juvenile Detention Board of Managers on July 21 that county council recently approved contracts giving Delaware County access to Berks County shelter care and participation in a five-county regional secure detention center.

“So we now have access to those beds, which is a good thing,” Welsh said, describing the arrangement that would give Delaware County access to shelter-care placements and, later, to eight secure detention beds at a regional facility. He said the governance structure for the secure detention center would be shared among the five counties and that each county would be represented on the oversight board: “That board will have 3 members from each county,” he said.

Welsh said the facility is under renovation and that a conservative target for the center to become operational is 01/01/2028, with work on plumbing, electricity and HVAC ongoing. He added that the long-term cost for operating the detention center would be split evenly among the five counties and that, under the agreement, there would be no right of refusal for the eight secure beds when they are available.

Board members asked for details about bed counts and access procedures. Welsh said he did not have exact shelter-care bed counts available during the meeting but recalled the shelter-care program had operated below full occupancy. He also said counties have begun logistical coordination meetings and that one county still needed to finalize approval of the agreement.

Next steps: staff will confirm whether the final county has signed the agreement, participate in logistic meetings among the counties and provide updates to the Juvenile Detention Board of Managers as the project moves toward 2028 operation.