By Katie Campbell | Arizona Capitol Times
Before its closure in 2015, Apache County’s juvenile detention center would sit a month, six weeks, maybe more without housing a single kid.
The fully staffed facility was left waiting for the occasional drop-off. According to the Associated Press, the operation cost $800,000 a year, yet it averaged only 1.7 children in its custody at any given time.
The detention center was shut down, and a partnership was formed with Navajo County to house Apache’s juvenile offenders.
But on June 30, Navajo County closed its detention center, too. So did Gila County. And Graham County’s numbers are so low, its leadership is considering using just one detention area, leaving three more vacant and another open for a community program growing in popularity.
