The state has extended a waiver allowing teens in the city’s overcrowded juvenile detention centers to sleep on plastic pallets in common areas like classrooms for at least the next three months, according to a document and city and state officials.
Lawyers for young people who have been charged with crimes ranging from petty theft to murder first raised concerns that the teens were sleeping in classrooms in November. They said sleeping in a common area is dangerous because it puts the teens, who are between 13 and 17 years old, at risk of being robbed or assaulted by their peers at night. The lawyers said at the time that two of their clients had been assaulted at night, and others had told them they were too afraid to go to sleep.
Roughly 200 New Yorkers between the ages of 12 and 21 are jailed while awaiting trial or sentencing at two juvenile facilities run by the Administration for Children’s Services and state officials: Crossroads in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and Horizon Juvenile Detention Center in the South Bronx. Since October, there have been three “altercations” in the communal sleeping settings, according to Marisa Kaufman, a spokesperson for the city agency.
Kaufman said some of the teens were left with minor bruises after the incidents.
“The safety and well-being of the young people in our care is our top priority,” she said in a statement.
Under state law, every juvenile detainee is required to have their own room with a single bed, sheets, pillowcases and clothing storage.
State officials first waived those requirements on Oct. 23, allowing for "dormitory-style housing" through Jan. 5. Doing so increases the jails’ legal capacity from about 200 to about 219, according to the waiver. On Wednesday, city officials told Gothamist the state has extended the waiver to April 1.
Under the waiver, at least three staff members must monitor the group sleeping areas overnight. Kaufman said detainees sleep in “portable beds” with a mattress, sheets, bedding and pillows.
Legal Aid Society chief attorney of the juvenile rights practice Dawne Mitchell said her team still has “immense concerns” about the jails housing its teen clients on plastic pallets with mattresses in classrooms with nowhere secure to keep their belongings.
In December, the city said it planned to add six new eight-bed residential units to the Horizon facility in the Bronx, the Daily News reported. However, no timeline has been given for that project.
City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield said “extensive planning” has been underway for months to construct more housing, educational and programming space to accommodate the rising population in youth jails.
Brooklyn Defender Services attorney-in-charge of the adolescent representation unit Lisa Salvatore said it was “appalling” that the city and the state Office of Children and Family Services, which oversees the jails, would continue to force children to sleep on the floor and in classrooms in the dangerous facilities, and that the city should instead invest in resources to “help children thrive.”
Office of Children and Family Services spokesperson Karen Male said the state would maintain “constant dialogue” with the city to make sure young people were being kept safe in the youth jails during the waiver. The state can revoke the waiver if safety conditions aren’t met.
This is the first time the state has issued a waiver to bypass state law at the jails.
Youth detention numbers citywide have soared in the past two years, from 987 admissions in 2021 to 1,775 in 2023 according to city data — the highest admission rate in six years. More than 93% of youth detained are Black or Hispanic, according to the city Administration for Children’s Services.
A spike in arrests last year was most increased for 14 and 15 year olds, according to data. And 26 detainees were aged 12 or under. The most common charges young people were held on were robbery and attempted murder.
The spike is due to both an increase in arrest, and longer stays at the facilities, where most teens are awaiting trial, Kaufman said.
Attorneys also blamed overpopulation in the jails on a lack of funding for alternative programs to detention. Under the Adams Administration, the city has cut funding for programs intended to prevent young people from entering the criminal justice system, as well as diversion programs.
“Instead of having youth sleep in classrooms, the mayor should reverse his disastrous cuts to youth programs that would prevent kids from entering detention,” City Councilmember Lincoln Restler said.
The city’s juvenile jails have long been plagued by corruption and violence. In March, Gothamist exposed a staff smuggling network that supplies detainees with drugs, cash and weapons. In April, a guard at the Bronx jail was arrested and fired for having sex with an 18-year-old detainee. In July, federal prosecutors charged two supervisors at the same jail for violently dragging, punching and stomping a 16-year-old detainee.
