Harborfields Juvenile Detention Center in Egg Harbor City.
Atlantic County’s juvenile justice issues have gotten to the point that county leaders sued the state Juvenile Justice Commission and its executive director in hopes of finding a permanent fix for an increasing problem.
A regularly overcrowded Harborfields Juvenile Detention Center has left juvenile detainees in the county waiting hours and sometimes days to find placement, despite a federal requirement that juveniles must be placed or released within six hours, according to the suit filed in September on behalf of Atlantic County Prosecutor Will Reynolds, Sheriff Joe O’Donoghue, Public Safety Director Michael Fedorko, and their offices.
Harborfields has a 20-detainee capacity, but has had as many as 24 juvenile offenders at certain points, both sides agree.
Because the juvenile offenders cannot be housed in adult holding cells, they often are left handcuffed to benches or with officers overseeing them while frantic calls are made to find where they can go, according to court filings in the civil litigation.
In one case, a Cumberland County juvenile arrested on a gun charge in Atlantic City wound up at the hospitalized for suicidal thoughts after 19 hours in police custody.
The breaking point for Atlantic County leaders seems to be a two-month span, when Harborfields facility had seven major incidents, several filings note.
That included a riot Aug. 25 that captured attention from the public as several police cars from multiple agencies were seen outside the Egg Harbor City facility. Officers from the city’s department along with sheriff’s officers and police from Galloway, Hamilton and Mullica townships responded.
A juvenile and two officers were injured in that incident.
A week later, multiple agencies again were called to a report that inmates were holding guards hostage, Egg Harbor City attorney Angela Maione Costigan wrote in a position statement sent in support of the county’s position.
They found three guards in a room with two unsecured juveniles, Costigan wrote: “Inmates were eventually secured and order was restored after 39 minutes.”
Still, the state did not officially restrict admissions to Harborfields, leading to the lawsuit filed in September.
“Despite our county’s repeated advisement to the state of New Jersey about this ongoing crisis, there has been no meaningful response or assistance,” Atlantic County Association of Chiefs of Police President Kevin Friel wrote in a letter dated Sept. 30.
Then, on Nov. 12, Juvenile Justice Commission Executive Director Jennifer LeBaron issued notice to Atlantic County that the commission was ceasing admissions to the facility when it reached its maximum of 20 detainees.
That same day, LeBaron also informed Bergen, Camden, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Ocean counties that they would be required to accept Atlantic County youth.
The date is significant, since it was when the commission was due to give its response to the court.
That was pointed out by Atlantic County Assignment Judge Michael Blee, who heard arguments Nov. 22.
“The Atlantic County youth facility’s been over maximum capacity over the last couple years,” he said. “The complaint was filed (in September), then the day the opposition was due (Nov. 12), they entered an order.”
An order, he noted, that is not complete.
It seems to lay all of the responsibility on Atlantic County, even though the statute puts juvenile placement firmly under the commission.
Atlantic County is to “immediately identify a process for placing Atlantic youth” to those centers operated by Bergen, Camden, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Ocean counties, the order states. Those counties are then “bound to accept such youth.”
But that does not answer the question of how that will happen or “who is making the call at 2 o’clock in the morning,” Blee said.
Atlantic County also is to pay the receiving county “a reasonable and appropriate per diem fee allowance for each youth sent to the facility,” but gives no amount, including in response to some of those receiving counties who reached out asking for specifics.
The county also would be responsible for transportation of the youth to the chosen facility.
“How is Atlantic County qualified to make decisions for a placement of an Atlantic County youth in say Essex County?” the judge asked. “Do they know what their population is? Do they know if there are safety issues?”
They also would have to consider things like gang affiliation and whether the offender is male or female, Blee noted.
“That seems to suggest a statewide agency should have that material and make a determination,” he said.
There is the added issue of several of the outside counties already having receiving agreements with counties that no longer have juvenile detention centers, and rely on the sending arrangement.
Deputy Attorney General Patrick Jhoo, representing the commission, argued that the case should not even be before Blee, insisting it is an appellate issue.
“You think the Appellate Division’s the appropriate place to consider those issues that are essentially local to Atlantic County?” the judge asked Jhoo.
But Jhoo said when it comes to questions about actions of the state — or even inaction — that is an appellate issue.
The hearing was streamed online last month.“We’re not challenging action. We’re not challenging inaction,” said county attorney Arthur Murray. “We’re asking the court to answer a question: Who is responsible for the assignment and placement of juveniles under the statutes? … All we want the court to do is answer the question.”
There is also the civil rights question raised by juveniles held far beyond the six-hour mark as things are sorted out.
“You have juveniles who are being chained to benches for six, eight, 10, 12, over 24 hours in this county,” Murray said. “That must come to an end judge. That cannot continue.”
In one case, a juvenile — O.E. — on probation out of Cumberland County was arrested in Atlantic City around midnight Sept. 29, on charges that included possession of a handgun without a permit.
The juvenile wound up at the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center “for suicidal ideation after 19 hours in police custody.”
It wasn’t until 9:30 the next morning that the transfer was completed in the system, and Atlantic City police were cleared to take the juvenile to the Cumberland County Courthouse for a hearing and to await placement.
In another case, Atlantic City police arrested juvenile SW on gun and drug charges Sept. 11. Harborfields was contacted at 4:14 a.m., but advised they were at full capacity.
Four hours were spent trying to find a spot with SW eventually taken to holding in the Family Courthouse. After 40 minutes, police were directed to a courtroom, with the Sheriff’s Office eventually taking custody. He was released to a substance abuse treatment program the next day, over the objection of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.
“Dealing with the lack of JJC’s ability to fulfill their obligation, places the juvenile in continued stress as most police departments are not equipped to handle juvenile offenders for extended periods,” wrote Friel, who is Hammonton’s police chief.
“The time has come for the JJC to be proactive,” wrote Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, president of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey. “We cannot sit by while the civil rights of our youth are violated and wait for a tragic event that will force reactive reform in the public spotlight.”
The future of the lawsuit is now in the hands of Blee, who will first decide whether it will stay with him or should go to the appellate.
A written decision is expected by Dec. 20.
