The new juvenile detention center in downtown Omaha, Neb., features comfortable rooms, common spaces with flat-screen TVs and orderly classrooms. However, something is missing in the county’s new juvenile detention center: the juveniles. A year after the completion of the controversial project, the $27 million center remains unoccupied, and it may never be utilized for its original purpose. Members of the Douglas County Board have begun floating potential alternative uses for the four-story building as the number of kids in custody exceeds the number of beds in the new facility, Flatwater Free Press reports. Detained children remain in the 27-year-old Douglas County Youth Center (DCYC), a midtown Omaha facility that critics say is built more like an adult jail than a therapeutic environment for kids. In addition to the millions taxpayers put toward the construction of the building, the unopened facility has cost the county about $177,000 in utilities and maintenance since last July. Upkeep is due to cost taxpayers at least $20,000 a month going forward.
Longtime opponents of the project led by County Board member Jim Cavanaugh said the undersized facility was doomed from the start and has turned into a money pit for taxpayers. “The money has been spent. No child nor family has been helped,” said Bellevue activist Nicole Le Clerc. “In this trying time, to have built that building, it’s unfathomable what they’ve done.” Project proponents, led by County Board member Chris Rodgers, say the building can still be used for its intended purpose if the number of kids in detention falls. But, that increase is due in large part to the number of kids brought in on gun charges, said Deputy County Administrator Kim Hawekotte. It’s part of a national trend where youth detention facilities are overwhelmed by a rise in violent and gun-related crime, said Mike Dempsey, director of the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators. Some officials contend that the state should take more responsibility for certain repeat offenders kept at the Douglas County Youth Center and that social service programs meant to reduce recidivism need more time to work after pandemic disruptions.
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