‘It’s devastating.’ NC teens moved to adult prison, far from home after jail shuts down
Lamiya Grimes went from seeing her son — who is being held in a juvenile detention center 70 miles from home — weekly to not at all. Now the two are long on distance and short on time, sharing only sporadic letters and a 3-5 minute phone call every other week.
The recent closure of the Mecklenburg Juvenile Detention Center has taken a toll on families, advocates — including teachers, librarians, and mentors — and the system itself. Grimes’ 17-year-old son is one of more than 60 juveniles moved to facilities far away from loved ones.
“It’s devastating,” Grimes told The Charlotte Observer. “It’s hurtful, it’s frustrating. The place he’s at … I have to wait until the next time (he can call). There’s no designated phone call. It’s just ‘Ma’ I’ll talk to you when I talk to you.’”
Grimes’ son is in Foothills Correctional Institute in Burke County. His case was moved to adult court and he is charged with first-degree murder. He was arrested in October 2021 and moved to the Morganton facility at the end of last year.
Grimes said her son fell in with the wrong crowd at 13 because he wanted to find ways to provide for his family. She said she is a single mother who is a survivor of domestic violence. Her son watched her struggle and wanted to help her and his younger brother and sister.
“My son has seen a lot,” Grimes said. “After his dad got put in prison for almost killing me, he took matters into his own hands and it didn’t end up well for him.”
Court records pertaining to her son’s case have so far not been made public. He was 16 when he was arrested and state law treats juvenile court records as confidential.
Her son is learning from his mistakes, Grimes said. And, he was making progress with his mentor and in school at the Mecklenburg Juvenile Detention Center. Now, he doesn’t have those resources, she said.
North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety has initiated a one-year contract with the Department of Adult Corrections to house 15 juvenile offenders at the Foothills facility to help offset juvenile jail staffing shortages, spokesperson Diana Kees told the Observer. Foothills is for adult offenders but is housing the juveniles in a separate 15-bed unit. The agreement is similar to one already in place with county jails, Kees said.
The Department of Public Safety pushed back against the decision to close the Mecklenburg jail and now officials say the state’s prison system is facing “incredible constraints” following the closure. Kees cited “elevated staff shortages and capacity issues.”
State officials this month confirmed all juveniles in custody are enrolled in classes.
However, the closure cut off mentorship services and additional programs that used to be available to teens in the Mecklenburg jail.
At the Mecklenburg facility, teens had access to a library, a horticulture program, teachers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, staff they were familiar with, regular visitation, and Big Brother Big Sister mentors. Now, those resources are gone and her son remains in his cell for nearly 23 hours a day, according to Grimes.
The Department of Adult Corrections did not respond to questions from the Observer asking what resources it offers the teens, and did not say whether juveniles spend most of their time in their cells.
Camille Stephens, founder of Locked out Love, a non-profit organization that mentors juveniles in detention, said the closure of the Mecklenburg jail has left her “shocked” and “concerned.”
She said there wasn’t a plan in place for continuing mentorship and advocacy services when the detention center closed and now she and other advocates are left not knowing when they can get back to work with the teens who were moved.
“We have to revisit our mission as to how we’re going to be able to help the youth that we were helping,” Stephens said.
Juvenile jails in North Carolina
Stephens said since the Mecklenburg jail closure, the system is struggling to provide reliable transportation to teens to and from court. She said there have been multiple occasions where teens have missed court.
“...There has been mixed communication,” Stephens said. “I’m still going to court with the kids when I know they have a court date and one too many times there has been a lack of transportation, the kid was not there in court.”
This puts an added strain on the families of these children because their parents have to take time off of work to appear in court with them, Stephens said.
Grimes said her son has also missed court because of these mix-ups.
“I don’t understand where the confusion comes from. This is supposed to be in order,” Grimes said. “A lot of kids (are) excited, because either it’s going to be that day where they get a bond hearing,or it’s going to be that day where their case is dismissed, and they don’t even get to show up in court.”
Kees said the Department of Public Safety is “unaware of any juveniles missing court dates from Mecklenburg County.” She did say that the growing demand for transports in Mecklenburg and other counties statewide has impacted the juvenile transportation system.
The state’s juvenile detention centers are required to hold more teens in custody than in years prior because of the passage of North Carolina’s Raise the Age Law in 2019. The law states that most 16 and 17-year-olds charged with crimes cannot automatically be sent to adult court.
There has been nearly a 133% increase in the number of juveniles held in juvenile detention centers since Raise the Age went into effect, NC Policy Watch reported in December.
The Mecklenburg County facility closed its doors mid-November last year. The decision to close was first introduced in May by the county manager and sheriff to move juvenile jail staff to the adult detention center to help the already short-staffed Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Garry McFadden said at the time not renewing the contract for the Juvenile Detention Center with the state was the best option.
Families like Grimes’ and advocates like Stephens are feeling the brunt of that decision, they told the Observer.
Grimes doesn’t have a car and relies on the bus to travel. In Mecklenburg, she had easy access to a bus that could take her to visit her son every weekend. Now she can’t find transportation to visit him, she says.
“I think about him all the time, I pray for my son each and every day for his protection,” Grimes said.
“It’s hard not being around your child. And it’s hard for your child not being around the parent, they need that love and attention, they need to see their family members.
“Now he’s not able to see his mom, he’s not able to see his siblings, all he can hear is my voice and that’s not a guarantee.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
