The department shall provide institutional services which include, but are not limited to:

(1) providing correctional institutional services for juveniles committed under this chapter;

(2) managing, operating, and supervising Birchwood, Willow Lane, John G. Richards, and other facilities as the director may establish;

(3) establishing and maintaining residential and nonresidential reception and evaluation centers at which all children committed to its custody by a circuit or family court must be received, examined, and evaluated before assignment to one of its institutions or before other disposition or recommendation is made concerning the child. The commitment of a child to a reception and evaluation center or youth correctional institution of the department may be made only after the child has been adjudicated delinquent. The evaluation conducted by the reception and evaluation centers includes, but is not limited to:

(a) a complete social, physical, psychological, and mental examination;

(b) an investigation and consideration of family and community environment and other facts in the background of the person concerned that might relate to the person's delinquency;

(c) a determination of the correctional or custodial care that would be most appropriate. The department shall create facilities and employ personnel as will enable the centers to conduct the necessary physical, mental, and psychological examinations required by this section;

(4) providing juvenile detention services for juveniles charged with having committed a criminal offense who are found, after a detention screening or detention hearing, to require detention or placement outside the home pending an adjudication of delinquency or dispositional hearing. Detention services provided by the department for the benefit of the counties and municipalities of this State must include secure juvenile detention centers. The size and capacity of the juvenile detention facilities needed must be determined by the department after its consideration and review of minimum standards for local detention facilities in South Carolina for the design, construction, and operation of juvenile detention centers. These recognized state standards must be met or exceeded by the department in determining the size and capacity of the juvenile detention centers and in planning for the construction and operation of the facilities. The department shall determine and announce the anticipated maximum operational capacity of each facility and shall contact each county and municipal governmental body in this State for the purpose of determining which counties or municipalities anticipate utilizing these facilities upon each facility becoming operational. The department shall inform each county and municipal governmental body of the existing state and federal laws regarding the confinement of juveniles charged with committing criminal offenses, of each county's and municipality's ability to develop its own facility or to contract with other counties or municipalities for the development of a regional facility, and of the availability of the department's facilities. This notice must be provided to each county and municipality for the purpose of determining which county governmental bodies desire to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the department for the detention of juveniles from their particular community who are charged with committing a criminal offense for which pretrial detention is both authorized and appropriate. No later than September 1, 1993, the department shall report to the Budget and Control Board on the strategy of each county to comply with requirements of counties under this chapter. The department must include with its report a plan for the construction and the operation of those facilities which are projected to be necessary for the preadjudicatory detention of juveniles in this State. No later than September first of each subsequent year, the department shall report to the board on the status of all preadjudicatory juvenile detention facilities known to be operational or planned, regardless of ownership or management. Beginning with the report to the board which is due no later than September 1, 1996, the department must include an annual status report on the numbers of juveniles in pretrial detention who are awaiting disposition in general sessions court, whether they have been waived by the family court or whether they qualify due to the offense with which they are charged. The board then will coordinate with all responsible and affected agencies and entities to ensure that adequate funding is identified to prevent the detention or incarceration of juveniles who are awaiting disposition by, or who are under the jurisdiction of, the family court in adult jails anywhere within the State of South Carolina and to prevent the detention of juveniles who are awaiting disposition by general sessions court in facilities which do not provide actual sight and sound separation from adults who are in detention or custody. Upon completion of each facility and upon the determination by the Jail and Prison Inspection Division of the Department of Corrections that each facility is staffed in accordance with relevant standards and can be operated in accordance with these standards, the division shall determine and announce the rated capacity of each facility. A facility operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice for the preadjudicatory detention of juveniles must be maintained and continued in operation for that purpose until approved for conversion or closure by the Department of Administration. However, a county or municipality which decides to maintain its own approved facilities or which has entered into a regional intergovernmental agreement, which has provided secure facilities for preadjudicatory juveniles, and which meets the standards set forth above, may continue to operate these facilities. County and regionally operated facilities are subject to inspection by the Jail and Prison Inspection Division of the Department of Corrections for compliance with the standards set forth above and those created pursuant to Section 24-9-20. The division has the same enforcement authority over county, municipal, and regionally operated secure juvenile detention facilities as that which is provided in Section 24-9-30. In Department of Juvenile Justice operated facilities, the department shall determine an amount of per diem for each child detained in a center, which must be paid by the governing body of the law enforcement agency having original jurisdiction where the offense occurred. The per diem paid by the governing body of the law enforcement agency having original jurisdiction where the offense occurred must be based on the average operating cost among all preadjudicatory state facilities. The Department of Juvenile Justice must assume one-third of the per diem cost and the governing body of the law enforcement agency having original jurisdiction where the offense occurred must assume two-thirds of the cost. Per diem funds received by the department must be placed in a separate account by the department for operation of all preadjudicatory state facilities. Transportation of the juvenile to and from a facility is the responsibility of the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the offense was committed. Transportation of juveniles between department facilities, if necessary, is the responsibility of the department;

(5) each secure facility which detains preadjudicatory youth longer than forty-eight hours, excluding weekends and state holidays, regardless of ownership or management, must have sufficient personnel to provide uninterrupted supervision and to provide administrative, program, and support requirements. Each of these facilities must have a minimum of two juvenile custodial officers on duty each shift, fully dressed, awake, and alert to operate the facility. At least one person shall directly supervise the juveniles at all times. At least one female juvenile custodial officer must be present and available to the female detention population at all times. Staff on duty must be sufficient to provide for a juvenile-staff ratio adequate for custody, control, and supervision, and to provide full coverage of all designated security posts, excluding administrative, program, and other support staff. Staff shall prepare further a facility schedule of preplanned, structured, and productive activities. Schedules must be developed which include designated times for sleeping, dining, education, counseling, recreation, visitation, and personal time. Daily schedules should minimize idleness and promote constructive use of the juvenile's day. The Department of Juvenile Justice shall provide educational programs and services to all preadjudicatory juveniles in its custody. County, municipal, and regionally operated facilities shall provide these services to all preadjudicatory juveniles under the jurisdiction of the family court and all pretrial juveniles awaiting general sessions court who are detained locally for more than forty-eight hours, excluding weekends and state holidays, by contracting with the Department of Juvenile Justice or by arranging the services through the local school district in which the facility is located. It shall be the responsibility of the school district where a local detention center which has been approved to detain juveniles is located to provide adequate teaching staff and to ensure compliance with the educational requirements of this State. Students housed in approved local detention centers are to be included in the average daily membership count of students for that district and reimbursement by the Department of Education shall be made accordingly. Services which are arranged locally must be approved by the Department of Juvenile Justice as meeting all criteria developed under the authority of Section 63-19-380. Special needs students who are detained locally shall have all services required by federal and state laws and regulations;

(6) a county, municipality, or regional subdivision may provide temporary holdover facilities for juveniles only if the facilities comply with this section and with all standards created under the provisions of Section 24-9-20, which must be monitored and enforced by the Jail and Prison Inspection Division of the South Carolina Department of Corrections pursuant to its authority under Sections 24-9-20 and 24-9-30. The standards shall provide for the regulation of temporary holdover facilities with regard to adequate square footage, juvenile accommodations, access to bathroom facilities, lighting, ventilation, distinctions between secure and nonsecure temporary holdover facilities, staffing qualifications, and additional requirements as may be specified. These facilities may hold juveniles during the period between initial custody and the initial detention hearing before a family court judge for a period up to forty-eight hours, excluding weekends and state holidays. Preadjudicatory juveniles who are subsequently transferred to a juvenile detention center may be housed in a temporary holdover facility when returned to the community for a court appearance. However, the temporary housing shall not exceed forty-eight hours.

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 361, Section 2.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to the offices of the former State Budget and Control Board, Office of the Governor, or other agencies, were changed to reflect the transfer of them to the Department of Administration or other entities, pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, Section 5(D)(1), effective July 1, 2015.