New DJJ director outlines operational fixes, staffing shortfalls and OSIG response at BonAir

Bob Birmingham, who said he began as director on Jan. 17, briefed the commission on the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice's residential operations and the department's response to a 2025 Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG) audit. He gave agency metrics: roughly 1,700 employees, an approximately $300 million budget, oversight of about 30 court service units, 24 detention homes and one juvenile correctional center at BonAir.

Birmingham summarized the OSIG report as finalized in 2025 with 18 findings and 61 corrective actions; he said DJJ has accepted the findings and is actively addressing them. He pointed to chronic staffing shortfalls as a central constraint: "We don't have the staff," he said, explaining that limited staff make separating populations, moving youth to school and sustaining weekend programming difficult. He described steps DJJ has taken: hiring new therapists, contracting external providers to reduce wait times for mental-health assessments, reinstituting a residential advisory council, and reallocating some youth to local detention homes and CPP programs where feasible.

Commissioners and senators pressed on population management, noting fewer youths overall in the system but a higher concentration of youth with serious offenses and long DOC exposure. Birmingham said the department is working with localities and the secretary's office on incentives and agreements to keep youth closer to home and to restore community placement program capacity, and he announced formation of an HB91 committee to examine "room time" and a facilitator to run those meetings.