Public Source: “Some members of Allegheny County’s new Juvenile Detention Board of Advisors are raising tough questions that reflect the intractable problems in youth corrections here and across the country — notably the vast overrepresentation of Black kids and kids with disabilities in the system.

The 10-member board met for the second time in January — more than 18 months after the county’s youth correctional facility, formerly the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center, reopened under a new name and private management. Now called Highland Detention Center, it’s operated by Adelphoi Western Region, part of a Latrobe-based group of nonprofits providing youth detention services in multiple states.

‘The question in front of us is, “Why is the population so racially biased?”‘ said Kristy Trautmann, a board member and the executive director of FISA Foundation, which funds local nonprofits serving women, girls and people with disabilities. She noted that ‘a little less than half of the kids [incarcerated at Highland] qualify for special education services, which I think speaks to what some of their needs might be, as well as the intersection of disability in the juvenile justice system.'”

Read the full article.