LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) A youth detention center in southeast Arkansas has been closed as part of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s plan to streamline and improve the state’s juvenile system.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the Dermott Juvenile Treatment Center closed Thursday. A Youth Services Division spokeswoman says the last 10 inmates have been sent home sent or to other facilities.
The most recent closure leaves just five state juvenile lockups in operation.
Hutchinson says he wants the state to provide “better quality, individualized treatment” for juvenile offenders.
The nonprofit Disability Rights Arkansas, which monitors the treatment of children in state lockups, says the closure represents progress, but that more is needed. It wants Arkansas to use diversion tactics to keep youths out of detention and provide effective treatment for those who must be imprisoned.
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