Money OK’d for new juvenile detention center

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — It’s something that McKinley County officials have been wanting for years — a decent juvenile detention and crisis center.

Now, with approval by Congress of $328,000 for the project, county officials said Thursday they have enough money to actually begin building.

The county had asked for a little bit more money from Congress, but like all of the grants approved recently under the 2007 Omnibus Spending Bill, it was cut 2 percent.

The current facility, located on Hassler Valley Road near the state police headquarters, was built about a decade ago and was never expected to last this long.

“It was built as a temporary facility,” County Manager Tom Trujillo said.

It has had somewhat of an early illustrious career being the site of several escapes by juveniles in its first couple of years when they discovered that certain parts of the building could be cut open with a knife. That problem was corrected, but county officials almost immediately began looking at getting funding for a bigger and sturdier structure.

The facility’s main problem now, Trujillo said, is the roof. Although it has been repaired several times, the facility encounters a number of leaks whenever it rains.

The county plans to issue a request for proposals in early 2008 to get a design and architect for the building and then hopefully proceed with construction in the spring or early summer. The expectation is that the building will wind up costing between $3 million and $4 million.

With the Congressional funding, the county currently has $1.4 million of the cost and plans to get the rest from the county’s general fund and the state severance taxes.

The new building will almost double the number of beds in the juvenile center from 22 to 40, said Trujillo, and will also provide 10 beds for the crisis center, which the county uses to house juveniles who are picked up by police because of suspicion of being intoxicated.

“Under state law, a policeman cannot arrest a juvenile for being intoxicated unless he actually sees the juvenile drinking,” Trujillo said.

What they can do, however, is take the juvenile to the crisis center where he is given a breathalyzer test. If his blood level shows he has been drinking, the center provides counseling, and if the blood alcohol level is high enough, a trip to a local hospital.

Trujillo said the crisis center deals with juveniles almost daily.

“We get one or two during weekdays and four to six on Friday and Saturdays,” Trujillo said.

He said that the purpose of the crisis center is to provide a “safe” place for the juvenile until he gets sober and until counselors can sit down with him or her and talk about any problems that may be at the root of the drinking.

But even when the juvenile leaves the facility, the work of the counselors isn’t over since they often do follow-ups on the juvenile over the next few months, Trujillo said.