MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Sheriff's Office is taking steps to hand over control of the Youth Justice and Education Center (YJEC) to the Shelby County Juvenile Court.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says they are facing “challenges regarding staffing,” and that he needs the staff assigned to the Youth Center to work instead in the adult facilities saying the transition is “fiscally and logistically necessary.”
Yet earlier this month reports came out that parents were not allowed to visit their kids at the Youth Center and that the children were not getting the minimum education mandated. After the news came out, faith leaders and juvenile justice advocates in Memphis demanded answers and better treatment for the young people held at the center.
In a letter from December 2023, Floyd told Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon that the Sheriff's Office (SCSO) is facing difficulties due to short staffing, saying that despite efforts to provide raises and bonuses and increase recruitment, they continue to struggle to provide the level of staffing they need for the adult facilities.
Floyd states that by law they are required to operate the jail but they are not required to operate the Youth Center. Despite that in 2014 SCSO agreed to undertake the operations of the Youth Center, at the request of Judge Dan Michael, who was newly elected. At that time the center was under the oversight of the Department of Justice, according to Floyd.
In a letter to Chairwoman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners Miska Clay Bibbs from April 16, Floyd says at that time, they worked with national experts who provided training opportunities and coaching and that they eliminated the “isolation of youth,” but then refer to the same issued he told Sugarmon, about their need for more money and staff.
To his part, Judge Sugarmon said that transitioning operations to the juvenile court is a “viable objective” but the transition will need a “thorough assessment” to get enough resources, including staffing and an upgrade to the facilities, adding that although they are committed to work closely with the Sheriff's Department, they do not expect the transition to be finished this year.
“A successful transition in operational support for YJEC will entail a multifaceted approach, including the recruitment and hiring of qualified staff, budget allocation for facility upgrades, and the development of comprehensive operational plans,” wrote Sugarmon in a statement.
In early April, when complaints about the Juvenile Center became public, Sugarmon said he wanted to “clarify the court’s role and actions” when it comes to the center.
In regards to complaints that parents have not been allowed to see their children in person, Sugarmon said he issued an order on Feb. 28, 2024, directing the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to provide space for in-person visitation, and that while the Sheriffs Office indicated at first that they were going to comply visitation had not return.
As per complaints that the children are not getting the mandatory minimum four hours of education a day, Sugarmon had previously nodded to the same answer Floyd would later describe in his letters, saying it all came down to low staffing. With Sugarmon saying only 50 to 60% of the kids are allowed to attend school due to those challenges.
In his letter to Sugarmon, Floyd says he remains committed to assisting the juvenile court and that he will not remove services until he and Sugarmon both agree, adding they will support requests for funding, and offer training and transition assistance.
“We are very proud of what we were able to accomplish at the center. We came with the purpose of serving the youth and helping them overcome trauma and other difficulties, we also brought our love and respect for them and sometimes those are the best ingredients for healing,” wrote Floyd in his letter to Bibbs. “Many now excel at school and some have developed talents for art, theater, writing and song-writing, we hate to leave but are certain they are in the very capable hands of Judge Sugarmon.”