Brittany Harris will never forget the time she spent in the Kentucky juvenile justice system.
Harris is now attending Spalding University and is in recovery after dealing with drug addiction, but she’ll never forget the shame she felt after spending time in a juvenile facility.
“My heart breaks for any child who has to go through the same thing,” she said, noting she spent time in a cold jail cell and didn’t get to talk to anybody, including her family.
“I experienced suicidal thoughts,” Harris said.
On Wednesday, Harris testified to the House Judiciary Committee on House Bill 3 — a bill that seeks to make a $9 million retrofit to a Louisville Juvenile facility, order parental involvement for parents of juveniles who fail to complete a diversion or commit truancy, and automatically detain kids for 48 hours who commit a serious crime, such as murder.
The bill is co-sponsored by NKY Rep. Steve Rawlings (R-Burlington) and passed the committee with 15 votes. Rawlings, along with Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill), Rep. Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood), and Rep. Steve Doan (R-Erlanger) voted in favor of the bill.
Also on Wednesday, two Democratic lawmakers from Louisville, Rep. Keturrah Herron, and Rep. Lisa Willner, held a press conference to introduce a bill that would create a Bill of Rights for Incarcerated Children, establish a citizen-led oversight group to look at juvenile cases, and develop a dedicated fund to pay for strategies to help juveniles in and out of the system.
The latest proposed changes come after legislators and the governor continue working toward solutions to the Department of Juvenile Justice issues.
In recent months, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that facilities across Kentucky complained to the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice that juvenile facilities were understaffed and did not comply with staffing requirements of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
These articles came after reporting showed a series of riots and the sexual assault of a teen girl in an incident at the Adair County facility.
In response, Gov. Andy Beshear ordered the Juvenile Justice Department to open a female-only detention center in Campbell County. Starting in December, all females between the ages of 11-18 would be housed in the Newport facility.
In January, he ordered males and females to be housed in separate facilities. The last change, which took place recently, is that male offenders 14 years and older, charged with a serious offense, are housed at one of three high-security detention centers in Adair, Fayette, or Warren Counties.
Further, he called for raising the starting salary of Department of Juvenile Justice workers to $50,000 per year, raises for current staff, and building two new state-of-the-art facilities.
In early February, Republican leaders called for changes to leadership in the Department of Juvenile Justice.
“The people of Kentucky have lost confidence in the folks that are running the Department of Juvenile Justice,” said Rep. Jason Nemes (R-Louisville) during a press conference for a work group created by the legislature to address the issues.
On Tuesday, DJJ Commissioner Vicki Reed and state Budget Director John Hicks presented information to the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice, Public Safety and Judiciary. Hicks outlined that the department needs $20 million in the next fiscal year, $26 million in this one, and $30 million to raise starting staff pay as Gov. Beshear requested.
“The staffing level we have now is unacceptable,” Hicks said. “We have to have more staff here in order to avoid problems.”
As part of House Bill 3, NKY Rep. Kim Moser (R-Taylor Mill), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, said she’ll be filing an amendment that helps to address the issues of mental health and substance abuse. Recognizing more pressing issues in the bill, Moser’s suggestions are more “upstream.”
“I want to make sure that the justice system is able to provide that same continuing care for kids who are in the system,” Moser said.
