State approves $30 million youth jail to house Baltimore teenagers charged as adults

‘Sate officials approved plans Wednesday to build a $30 million, 60-bed jail to house Baltimore teenagers charged as adults, a step to address years of concern about the practice of housing young city defendants alongside adults.

The U.S. Justice Department has said the state-run Baltimore City Detention Center has been violating the law by keeping the youths in the same facility as grown-ups, where teens often are secluded and do not receive school or other services while incarcerated.

The contract to renovate an existing pretrial facility on North Forrest Street near the detention center represents a compromise to an earlier proposal to build a much bigger youth jail in the city.’

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