MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Several Memphis suburbs in Shelby County are joining forces to support building a separate juvenile rehabilitation and detention center for West Tennessee.
The City of Germantown, Collierville and Bartlett passed a resolution this week to push the state to look into a new juvenile center.
Germantown mayor Mike Palazzolo, one of the three mayors who signed off on the resolution, told ABC24 they plan to ask Gov. Bill Lee to pay for it.
Palazzolo said the facilities in the county currently in use now are inadequate at curbing juvenile crime and making troubled kids become better citizens when they leave a detention center.
"Currently, the system only really allows for a summons to be issued to parents, and often times those juveniles are released back into their custody," Palazzolo said. "There is a need for 500 plus in all of West Tennessee, not just Shelby County."
There is a facility in Mason that has been closed for more than three years, according to Palazzolo. He said there is a study they would like for Lee to fund to see how much a separate facility would cost.
"It's been vetted, it's been discussed, it's been debated and the only thing we're asking is for it to be reviewed, researched, studied and see if the feasibility of standing up the Mason facility is realistic or not," he said.
The conversation about another juvenile detention center has already received mixed reviews. Bartlett resident Darrell Person said he does not agree that another facility to house juveniles will be the answer to curb youth violence.
"When they are put in detention centers sometimes, they are not given the proper treatment," Person said. "They're not given the direction that they are really needing to go into."
Germantown resident Greg Mullinax said it's difficult to support or not support a new juvenile detention center with little research to go on.
"I know I'm always in favor of things that would benefit the youth," Mullinax said. "I just would like to know more about that."
Palazzolo said youth crime is getting out of hand and most detention centers around the state have hit a capacity.
"Right now, if a juvenile has to have more intermediate or longer-term facility and those are full that we currently have in the state, they're actually sent to Texas," Palazzolo said.
Deontae Walker is a youth advocate with an organization called Husband Institute. He said they are a male youth enrichment program for kids 8 to 18 years old. Walker believes another detention center would not be the best investment for the county.
"Many of them don't have opportunities to make money legitimately, or they feel like they don't, so they do what they have seen, and they do what all they think that they can do," Walker said. "They just need someone to show them a different path."
Palazzolo said on Sept. 10 he planned to speak to the West Tennessee Mayors Association to ask for their support before the next legislative session begins in January.