DENVER — A need for more beds at juvenile detention centers across Colorado has prompted lawmakers to make a change.
Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law in June, designed to increase "emergency bed" capacity.
Deputy Executive Director of Health Facilities at the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) Perry May said the state has seen a 21% increase in the number of youth needing detention services.
HB25-1146 raises the number of "emergency beds" from 22 to 39.
Its a change from what the state was seeing for two decades, May said. Previously, they were decreasing bed count.
In 2003, it was 479. Now it's 215.
"When a facility is full and the emergency beds are being used, then judges have to make a decision about whether a youth can be released or not, in order to accommodate another youth coming in," May said. "I think what this does is it allows us to ensure that that youth are not released prior to there being the appropriate level of service for them in the community, before they're released. So it does in large it does improve community safety."
The Colorado District Attorney's Council spearheaded the bill. Centers across the state were running at or above capacity for the majority of the past year, according to the council.
“This increase in violent youth crime put enormous strain on the system and jeopardized public safety. Last fiscal year, the cap was exceeded 13 times, and jurisdictions had to resort to using “emergency beds” 210 times," the council told Denver7 in an email.
Among many expenses, the law allocates $6,854,420 to CDHS to get all of this done.
In a statement to Denver7, a spokesperson for Gov. Polis said the law also provides grants to help prevent youth crime, and added support to help them leave detention centers as quickly as possible.
