A new Youth Detention Center is set to open in Baltimore, and ABC2 got a tour before it opens.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary, Stephen T. Moyer, showed off the new facility which will hold 60 youths, 50 boys and 10 girls, who are charged as adults.
The $35 million facility will provide a state-of-the-art education, recreation and medical services - including dental and behavioral health units.
Located at 926 Greenmount Avenue, the building used to be the Baltimore Pre-Release Unit. With the renovations, the new detention center has already gained national and international attention for its design and construction.
Youths that were charged as adults were previously placed in the Baltimore City Detention Center, which was closed by Governor Hogan back in 2015.
"Though we wish the facility was not necessary, we intend to use it to turn around the lives of troubled youths," said Moyer, former deputy secretary of the state Department of Juvenile Services. "We must take advantage of the opportunity to put these teens back on the right path by steering them away from a life of crime and incarceration."
The goal of the new facility is to rehabilitate youths who could return to the streets, by giving education and behavioral health programs.
The center should open within the next few weeks.
