The issue of overcrowding at Tarrant County Juvenile Services was discussed before a board meeting Wednesday following the release of an audit examining possible causes and solutions.
The audit was prepared by Carey Cockerell, former director of Tarrant County Juvenile Services. Cockerell’s audit states the detention center had reached a record high of 138 as of April 12, 2022, which exceeds the facility’s capacity by 18.
“Strained resources in both staff and space created an unsafe environment and placed the facility out of compliance with mandatory state standards,” the audit reads. “County commissioners and other county authorities, including members of the Tarrant County Juvenile Board, expressed concern and raised questions as to the cause(s) of this increase.”
At a meeting Wednesday before Tarrant County’s juvenile board, which includes district judges along with Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, Cockerell highlighted one of his suggestions of looking into a new position monitoring the detention center’s daily population.
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The juvenile detention center and two associate judges are overseen by 323rd District Court Judge Alex Kim.
“Ultimately, we understand it’s your decision, Judge [Kim] whether you release a child or whether you detain a child, but I think a position like that would help,” Cockerell said.
Judge Kim spent several hours addressing concerns about overcrowding and how cases are processed. In some cases, Kim said the detention center is the only place a juvenile can go.
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“They’re victims of human trafficking. They’ve been trafficked,” Kim said, as an example. “So, they need a place where it’s not their trafficker that’s going to take them, which is unfortunate.”
A number of questions were raised by judges following this remark, including from Whitley who said he found this suggestion disturbing. In an interview prior to the meeting Wednesday, Whitley said the population in the juvenile detention center despite declining referrals.
“To give you an idea, referrals from the various police forces had gone from 2018 from like 5,000 to 2,500 in 2022 or 2021,” Whitley said. “At the same time, our detainees had gone from 59 in 2018 up to 120-plus and a high of 138 in 2022.”
Whitley urged the board to consider assigning another judge to assist Kim with pending cases.
“If we’re going to look at doing away with the associate judges, then I think we’re going to put somebody out until we can clear this out and get the daily population back down,” he said.
No decision was made Wednesday.
