Georgia to Allow Paulding Regional Youth Detention Center Contract to Expire

ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice will allow the current contract for operations at the Paulding Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC) in Dallas, Georgia, to end on Dec. 31, 2013.

“The closing of just this one Regional Youth Detention Center will result in DJJ’s annual savings of more than $6-million dollars, without displacing any youth currently in our system,” Commissioner Avery D. Niles said in a statement. “Secure detention incurs a significant expense — about $90,000 dollars per year, per youth in custody.”

The decision to allow the six-month contract extension to expire was based on balancing the economics of reducing considerable overhead facility costs, with minimal reduction of bed space in the system, while making millions in funds available for additional treatment and counseling services for thousands of youth in the state Department of Juvenile Justice’s care and custody, according to state officials said.

“This decision is being made before the year-end, after balancing costs against the current trending population in this RYDC’s service area,” Niles said.

DJJ plans to begin moving youth inmates from the Paulding RYDC secure facility in early December 2013.  Some Paulding facility youth will be transferred to Georgia’s Sumter Youth Development Center (YDC). At Sumter, DJJ will bring a 75-bed capacity facility back on-line this December following a pre-planned, long-term maintenance and refurbishing project.

The transferred DJJ youth will continue to receive the full spectrum of appropriate services and treatment.

As of January 2014, an additional 20-bed capacity will also be coming on-line for DJJ at the refurbished Martha K. Glaze Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC) in Clayton County. The remaining Paulding facility youth will be diverted to other DJJ secure facilities in the Greater Atlanta Metro Area in late December 2013, officials said.

All juvenile offenders at the Paulding RYDC will be transferred to other DJJ secure facilities by the end of December 2013.

The DJJ’s facility in Paulding County is currently run by Youth Services International, a private corrections services company also known as YSI, which operates the state-owned youth detention facility under contract with the state.