COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) announced shared plans to improve safety at its facilities during the Governor's Advisory Council for Juvenile Justice quarterly meeting on Friday. This was the first meeting since the confirmation of agency director Eden Hendrick.
During the meeting, Hendrick presented proposed solutions to current issues in juvenile detention centers.
The first issue on the list was getting more eyes on what's happening inside facility walls.
“We are almost finishing stage one of our camera system project. We have installed state-of-the-art cameras in all of our secure facilities," Hendrick said. "That project was actually started before I got here, but I’ve increased it. I’ve made sure that anywhere staff and youth are going to be alone there will be a camera there."
The announcement comes just one week after DJJ confirmed a disturbance in one of its facilities that sent two of them to the hospital.
Issues like this date back to 2017, including residents escaping and attacks on staff members. The director said these cameras will help in future incidents that may arise in detention centers.
“If we have incident, instead of having two cameras we’re gonna have 22 cameras," Henrick said. "You can zoom, you can follow people. It’s one of the top technologies, I think, in the country that we have."
Hendrick said these new cameras will also help in the department's staffing issue.
While DJJ looks to increase staff, it's also looking to decrease the amount of youth in each facilities.
“Unfortunately, that’s a huge struggle for us," Hendrick said. "A detention center is only supposed to house 72 youths. and it has averaged over 100 since December."
Some of the residents have needs Hendrick said the facility is not equipped to address.
Hendrick said the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) is stepping in to help place residents with mental illnesses.
“With one of their psychiatrists actually leaving, we’ve been able to use some of our contract psychiatrists, as well as Dr. Simmer, from DHEC to offer to help cover the kids at DJJ in that intervening time period," a representative with DHEC said.
Hendrick said this is only beginning of many projects to come as the department works toward juvenile reform.
Money for the improvement would come from the state budget, which has yet to be approved by legislators.