Tacoma young-offender facility's cost per youth up from $39K to $166K

Eleven years ago, the annual cost of housing a youth at Pierce County’s juvenile detention center was $39,000. By this year, the cost per kid at Remann Hall had skyrocketed more than four times to $166,000.

“That number jumps out at everybody,” said Pierce County Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck. “It’s a huge increase.”

An audit that reveals rising costs at Remann Hall is causing concern and scrutiny from county officials. They are studying how to cut expenses, which break down to a daily cost of $455 per youth resident.

“I have grave concerns about the results of the audit, to be frank,” said County Executive Pat McCarthy.

Over the same period, the number of boys and girls in detention plummeted 75 percent due to reforms limiting confinement to youths charged with the most serious offenses, including burglary, assault and child molestation.

“Fewer youth supervised per staff translates into higher costs per youth,” the audit says.

The audit, approved by the Pierce County Council at a cost of $25,000, was done by Olympia firms, FLT Consulting Inc. and Robert C. Thomas & Associates. It uses figures adjusted for inflation.

It suggested several changes to rein in costs at Remann Hall, including:

• Converting two 12-bed units or pods into one 24-bed unit, saving at least $547,540 a year in operating costs, including detention officers.

• Contracting out food services. (A study by Pierce County concluded that doing so would result in minimal savings. The auditors disagreed.)

• Eliminating a separate segregation unit for violent and high-security youth by retrofitting cells in regular living pods with additional security measures.

Juvenile Court, which includes Remann Hall, opposed each of those suggested changes in its audit response. The court’s goal is to help youths become productive members of society. “We think you can’t divorce the quality and effect from the cost,” said Deputy Presiding Judge Thomas Felnagle.

McCarthy said she’s troubled by the level of spending detailed by the audit at a time she’s pushing everyone under her authority to be as efficient as possible.

After steep budget cuts in 2009-10, McCarthy proposes eliminating 46 full-time equivalent positions in county departments next year, including four Juvenile Court jobs. Juvenile Court’s general fund budget has been relatively flat since 2008.

McCarthy, van Doorninck and other county officials met Wednesday to talk about cutting costs at Remann Hall. In the next few weeks, van Doorninck said, Juvenile Court will develop its own proposal “in response to the audit to make things more efficient.”

The county executive doesn’t have authority over the court. That power rests with the seven-member Juvenile Court Executive Committee, a panel of Superior Court judges led by van Doorninck.

The County Council controls Juvenile Court’s annual general fund budget of about $15 million.

The number of staff at Remann Hall has actually declined over the last decade, but not as quickly as the youth population.

The audit of Juvenile Court reports the number of detention officers and supervisors has dropped by 28 percent: from a peak of 76 in 2003 to 55 this year.

Even so, the staff-to-youth ratio at Remann Hall has more than tripled since 2000 to an average of about 1.4 staff members per youth.

Juvenile Court’s own research since the audit shows that cutting detention staff by 10 percent – or six employees – could reduce the annual per-youth cost by nearly $19,000.

Van Doorninck said the key question is why detention costs and staffing haven’t declined in proportion to the youth population.

But she added that Remann Hall has to maintain “a basic minimum level of staffing whether we have 37 kids or 50 kids.” The number of youths in Remann Hall fluctuates daily.

She also said Remann Hall’s annual cost per youth is not out of line with other jurisdictions. King County’s Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention reports its annual cost per youth in 2010 was $179,945.

Van Doorninck said the auditors’ figure for annual cost per youth is inaccurate and excessively high because it includes food and medical services and a chemical dependency counselor. Once those expenses are taken out, the judge said the annual cost per youth is $143,833 – still a high number, she acknowledged.

Bob Thomas, one of the two auditors, said the annual cost of $166,000 is accurate and is based on the county’s own figures for residential care and custody, including food and medical services.

By comparson, costs haven’t risen as rapidly at Pierce County Jail. The daily operating cost per prisoner since 2001 has increased 42 percent to $110 after adjusting for inflation. The average daily population at the jail has been relatively constant at 1,200 to 1,300 inmates since 2000.

Shelly Maluo, Juvenile Court administrator, said the declining detention population is the main reason for the rising cost per youth.

Maluo said Remann Hall was remodeled in 1996 to have a higher staff-per-youth ratio to increase security and reduce assaults by youths.

“It’s not by luck that we don’t have lawsuits and the other problems we had,” Maluo said. “Yes, we could do things much cheaper, but that’s at a cost in terms of safety, security, risk and liability to the county. Incarceration is not cheap.”

Youths ages 12 to 18 are held at Remann Hall while awaiting their court dates and may stay there as part of their sentence or until they’re transferred to a state juvenile detention facility. Four courtrooms for juveniles are part of Remann Hall at 5501 Sixth Ave.

The population has declined due to a reduction in crime in addition to detention alternatives such as electronic home monitoring and community detention. Only those facing the most severe charges, mental-health issues and behavior challenges make it to Remann Hall.

The building has 101 single bunks in eight units, called pods.

Only five of eight pods are now in use. The youths sleep in 7-by-12-foot cells on three-inch thick mattresses. Their cells have a toilet, sink and mirror. Little light enters the cells through frosted panel windows.

On a recent Friday in the lone female pod, four girls in orange jumpsuits channel-surfed at lunchtime in the day room outside their cells, stopping on MTV.

Their lunch: four fish sticks, a cup of fruit cocktail, a roll, French fries, coleslaw and chocolate milk. Many youths have food allergies, requiring special meals.

In another pod, boys in their blue jumpsuits played cards and watched a program on the BET channel at lunchtime.

During the day, the youths attend basic education classes taught by Tacoma Public Schools.

All but one of Remann Hall’s eight pods were designed to hold 12 youths each.

The audit concluded combining two 12-bed units could save at least $547,540 a year after debt service for construction costs of up to $2 million.

But van Doorninck said that because of the building’s design with classrooms and fire sprinkler water pipes between the units, it’s hard to picture how two pods could be combined.

Van Doorninck also disagreed philosophically with doubling the number of youths watched by one detention officer from 12 to 24.

“It is not manageable with the kinds of kids we have in custody now,” she said.

The auditors credited Juvenile Court for budget cuts it has made. They said “in some cases” Remann Hall has been a leader in carrying out juvenile justice reforms.

Pierce County Council member Dick Muri said the council decided to have Juvenile Court audited to see if there were ways to cut costs.

But Muri said he was surprised by the four-fold increase in costs per youth at Remann Hall.

“That’s a huge cost increase,” said Muri, one of several council members who have voiced concerns about spending at Juvenile Court.

“We can’t force them to reform the way they do business,” Muri said. “But we can cut their budget.”

Muri likened the change to cutting costs from a five-star to four-star facility.

“They’re doing a great job at a high cost,” he said.

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/polibuzz