The Allegheny County Council voted Tuesday to file a lawsuit against the county administration to enable the council to vote on a contract over the reopening of the embattled Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. The county announced on Sept. 15 it had reached an agreement with Latrobe nonprofit Adelphoi, a social services provider, to manage the former Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. The contract is valued at $73.2 million over five years. Shuman shut down in 2021 after the state revoked its operating license over a history of safety violations. At the Tuesday council meeting, the council members voted 9-4 with two abstentions to direct the council solicitor to file a suit against the County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and/or the Fifth Judicial District Court of Common Pleas seeking a judgment over the conditional use of the Shuman Center site. Councilmembers Tom Duerr, Nicholas Futules, Bob Macey and Sam DeMarco voted no and Suzanne Filiaggi and DeWitt Walton abstained. Councilmember Bethany Hallam slammed the county at the meeting for contracting with Adelphoi to reopen the center. Before the motion passed, Hallam said the vote wasn’t a question of reforming the juvenile justice system or if Shuman should reopen. Instead, she said, “This is about the county executive and the courts conspiring together to attempt to supersede the authority that is given to us as council members under the county charter.”

Graphic Credit: Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism