Sheriff requests transitioning Youth Center to Juvenile Court [Video]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is taking steps to hand over control of the Youth Justice and Education Center (YJEC) to the Shelby County Juvenile Court.

Sheriff Floyd Bonner from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says they are facing “challenges regarding staffing,” and that he needs the staff assigned to the Youth Center to work instead in the adult facilities saying the transition is “fiscally and logistically necessary.” 

Yet earlier this month reports came out that parents were not allowed to visit their kids at the Youth Center and that the children were not getting the minimum education mandated. After the news came out, faith leaders and juvenile justice advocates in Memphis demanded answers and better treatment for the young people held at the center.

In a …