Allegheny County Council Considers New Oversight of Shuman Detention Center

As the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center reopens after a three-year hiatus this week, a county council member wants a new board to oversee the facility.

Bethany Hallam has drafted a bill to create a nine-member “Juvenile Detention Center Management Board.” The members would be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the center, and their duties would include ensuring adequate living conditions and “monitoring the health and safety of juvenile detainees.”

“If something goes wrong at Shuman, they have the power to fix it,” Hallam said.

It would be different from an advisory board required by state law, which has no legal right to intervene if the facility violates its operating license. The Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas and Department of Social Services are currently the only agencies with statutory authority to operate a county juvenile detention facility.

The advisory board “doesn’t really have any power,” Hallam said. “This board of directors would restore real control.”

Hallam argued that the county needed an oversight agency with real power because, rather than managing Shuman himself, it contracted with Latrobe-based nonprofit Adelphoi to be in charge.

If created, the board would include County Executive Sara Innamorato, County Comptroller Corey O’Connor, two County Council members selected by the board president and five citizen members appointed by the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas and the County Council.

Hallam said citizen members could include social workers, people with health care experience, court officials and community advocates.

But the proposal appears likely to reignite the debate over the board’s role in the center’s operations — a dispute that has been winding its way through the court system since last fall.

In September 2023, council members voted to sue former County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and the Court of Common Pleas over their decision to enter into a contract with Adelphoi, worth up to $73 million over five years (not including the cost of ongoing construction and renovations).

County Council lawyers argued that the executive branch illegally circumvented the legislative branch by signing the agreement without the council’s approval. The county’s home rule charter gives the council the power to “lease, convey, release or abandon, or permit the use of, any land, building or other real or personal property of the county”; council members said that clause applies to contracts that allow third parties to use the space.

Hallam said the same provision gives the council the power to create the board. “We own the building that is Shuman. We decide who runs it,” she said. “That’s the crux of our lawsuit. It’s absolutely within our jurisdiction to create a board of supervisors.”

The original dispute has not yet been resolved. The county law department argues that Adelphoi provides the county with a service that is the exclusive responsibility of the county executive branch. A judge declined to dismiss the council’s complaint in March.

Abigail Gardner, a spokeswoman for Innamorato, said the county attorney’s office is reviewing Hallam’s proposed new ordinance.

“Although the contract for the Shuman Center was signed prior to County Executive Innamorato’s tenure, we have focused on a new vision for the facility, community involvement and accountability since taking office,” Gardner said. “Over the past several months, discussions have been held with the County Council about reestablishing a robust advisory board to complement the oversight already outlined in the contract with Adelphoi.”

Innamorato appointed people to the advisory board in mid-June: Gardner said all “are experts in their field, community-focused and have deep Shuman experience.”

An Adelphoi spokesperson said the first phase of the project includes 12 beds for “recently arrested juveniles.” The 20 children currently being held at the Allegheny County Jail will not be transferred to the center until the next phase. Shuman will have a total capacity of 60 beds, though there is no timeline for when they will open.