City Council member Charles R. Samuels criticized the Richmond executive branch's response to problems at the city's juvenile detention center at a news conference Tuesday. Before the conference was over, city officials were there to respond.
Samuels spoke on the sidewalk in front of the center in Shockoe Bottom and said he will propose that the council form a citizens' advisory committee to monitor conditions at the facility.
Last month, the detention center was placed on probation by the state for the second time in three years. Problems cited in a state report included gate-lock problems, a faulty intercom system, inadequate documentation of staff training and health issues, and not enough hairbrushes for all the females in the facility.
The city, which had already shifted $344,000 from another fund within the Department of Public Works to address key problems, responded with a plan to address the issues raised by the state.
On Tuesday, Carolyn Graham, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for human services, arrived at the close of Samuels' news conference. She said the city expected the work to be complete by March 5.
"I find it a bit disconcerting that this proposal has been brought up so close to the time we expect to meet the goals we set to bring the facility back up to par," Graham said.
Samuels, an attorney who represents juveniles, said his decision to call the news conference sprang from a meeting Monday night with a client who complained about not having a hairbrush of her own and about bedbug bites.
Graham and Charles J. Kehoe, Richmond's director of juvenile justice services, toured the detention center after Samuels' meeting with the media. Afterward, Graham insisted that there is no shortage of brushes and no problem with bedbugs.
She said the 60-bed facility had replaced its mattresses the day after Christmas and that exterminators treat the center each month. Kehoe said the most recent treatment came Jan. 26.
She said that ultimately the administration and Samuels share the goal of a functional, effective detention center.
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