The Board of Estimate and Apportionment met today to present the fiscal year 2025 budget to City of St. Louis leaders. The budget included extra funding for the juvenile detention center to hire additional staff amid an influx of teen detainees.
In 2021, long-awaited “Raise the Age” reforms went into effect in Missouri. The delay was due to a technical error in legislation that was passed in 2018. And the effect was to raise the age by which teens were tried as adults for most crimes from 17 to 18 years old, according to Empower Missouri.
But that well-intentioned change has put pressure on the detention center run by the city and its circuit court system.
“They’ve been receiving increased referrals of juveniles, mostly in a continuation of the Raise the Age legislation that occurred a couple of years ago,” Paul Payne, the city’s budget director, said during the budget presentation.
The proposed budget for the juvenile detention center next year would allow for 14 additional staff positions and would address contractual increases to help with the extra expenses, Payne said.
Overall, the budget for the city’s juvenile detention center will increase $1.9 million if the plan is approved.
The troubled St. Louis City Justice Center, however, would see a $3.6 million budget decrease. Jail leaders plan to eliminate funding for 70 positions that are currently vacant, according to the proposed budget. The RFT reported in December that more than 100 positions out of an authorized level of 307 were vacant — leading to major problems for jail operations.
The jail has been embroiled in controversy following a slew of deaths, reports of a lack of medical treatment for detainees and what has been described as a riot where a guard was taken hostage.
There are currently more than 120 vacant positions at the jail, Payne said.
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