Problems in juvenile justice system impact taxpayers, says local sheriff's department | News

MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY — The community continues to react to the fight at the McCracken County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, June 25, and how the incident highlighted a problem facing the juvenile detention system.

In case you missed it, two young women were arrested and then released. Both are accused of hitting two separate deputies during the fight.

McCracken County Sheriff Ryan Norman said the incident highlights the problems law enforcement faces in the juvenile detention system. He said incarcerating young girls can cost taxpayers up to $3,000 more than incarcerating young boys in McCracken County.

The problem began in 2022 when the state Department of Juvenile Justice ordered gender separation in all state detention centers.

It costs taxpayers more because it takes a 15-hour round-trip drive to take girls to the only girls' center in the entire state.

Sheriff Ryan Norman said this was meant to be temporary or the state would help with transportation. Nearly two years later, there is still no solution.

So when fights, like the one that broke out at the McCracken County Fair, occur and minors have to be taken into custody, the outcome depends on whether it's a boy or a girl.

Boys can be housed at McCracken County's juvenile facility, McCracken Regional Juvenile. Girls? They must be driven hours away, across the state, to the Boyd Regional Juvenile Detention Center, the only juvenile facility for women in Kentucky.

“It's like a lot of mandates that other government agencies have, it's underfunded. We're reimbursed, I believe, 45 cents per mile, which probably covers the gas for the trip,” said McCracken County Sheriff Ryan Norman.

What is not covered is the overtime that MPs will have to work during transport and the calling of additional staff to cover those who must participate in the trip.

Norman says the added costs to the community can influence a police officer's decision to arrest a minor.

“We have to provide services to the community. And if transporting a minor and taking 15 hours a day, if that's going to hurt our service here in McCracken County, we have to take that into account,” he said. Norman said.

McCracken County District Court Judge Todd Jones said there are solutions they are trying to work out with lawmakers. “We have a secure facility. I don't see why we can't take the females there, and they can stay in some sort of holding cell until transport comes from the state. That's the easiest solution,” Jones said.

Jones wants to remind people that even if young girls are not initially detained, like the two girls taken into custody this week, that doesn't mean they won't be sentenced to detention later.

State law also states that juveniles are entitled to a hearing within 24 hours of their arrest.