$40M Youth Detention Center Awaits Budget Approval Amid Overcrowding in NC

North Carolina lawmakers greenlit a 48-bed youth detention facility with a price tag near $40 million. But the project sits in limbo. No state budget means no construction start date. Last week, the Public Safety Department warned that the state could fall short by about two dozen beds for young offenders when the next fiscal year rolls around.

The number of young inmates has surged 44% across three years. Public safety officials confirm it. State jails are packed to the brim with kids who broke the law.

Officials are leaning hard on state leaders to pass a budget that bankrolls new buildings and hires staff to run them. Some legislators might turn to Mecklenburg County for help with the space crunch.

"Our youth are being transported hours away, and that is separating them from their support system, from their family, just from schools and services," Charlotte City Council Member Dimple Ajmera said, according to Queen City News. "So we need to ask the general assembly to invest in our local juvenile center with wraparound supportive services."

Sheriff Gary McFadden says Jail North could reopen, but it would drain state coffers and require help recruiting workers. His estimate is that an additional 100 detention officers or more would be needed. Add 20 to 25 support staff on top of that just to get the jail running.

The miles separating young offenders from home cause real headaches for families who want to visit. Kids get yanked from their schools. They lose the services available in their own neighborhoods when shipped to distant facilities.

State leaders are feeling the heat. Pass the budget. Release the money for that approved detention center. Without lawmakers taking action, no construction crews show up and the bed shortage balloons into something worse.

This mess has been brewing for years as more kids wind up in the system. The buildings that exist can't absorb the flood of new arrivals.