On October 6, a Golden Valley Police officer brought a juvenile suspect to the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC). The juvenile had been arrested on an outstanding warrant in a stolen car after he cut off the ankle bracelet monitor he had to wear for committing a previous crime.

In the body-worn camera video obtained by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the officer is told by JDC staff they cannot admit and book the suspect because the JDC was experiencing a staffing shortage that day.

Golden Valley Police Chief Virgil Green told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he expected the JDC to accept the juvenile because he had a felony warrant for his arrest and was considered an escapee. And, Green said, because state law does not allow law enforcement to hold a juvenile for more than six hours, the suspect was released.

“Shocked and surprised. And, to be told that we don’t have the staffing to do so is shocking,” said Green.

Staffing questions at the JDC go beyond this one incident. On August 4, inmates became unruly, and Minneapolis Police and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office were called, a union representative of the juvenile corrections officers, business agent Amy Perusse, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

“They took over a housing unit at JDC. In my 26 years there, it never happened,” said Perusse.

Perusse said staffing is so low the JDC requires some corrections officers to work multiple 16-hour shifts in a week.

“And so they’re assaulting staff in record numbers,” said Perusse. “And, they’re blatantly telling staff, you know what, you can call on radio for assistance, but we both know nobody’s coming.”

As of October 14, Hennepin County data showed the JDC was budgeted for 76 corrections officers, but only 47 were available to work right now. In 2023 there were 30 assaults on corrections officers, and through October 14 of this year, there have been 19.

A spokesperson for the JDC and Hennepin County issued the following statement in response to the concerns of Golden Valley Police and the juvenile corrections officers’ union, Teamsters Local 320.

“Hennepin County’s Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCCR), operates the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC). Like other agencies, the JDC has experienced staffing challenges but has continued to meet the staff-resident ratios as required by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC). The safety and well-being of our staff and the youth in our care are a high priority. For more than a year, DOCCR has focused on recruitment, hiring and retention efforts in our facilities – and we’ve made strides. Given recent recruiting efforts, we have hit our authorized staffing complement of 76 Juvenile Correction Officers (JCOs); a number of hires are being onboarded and trained to begin work over the next month or two.

On Oct. 6, there were seven JCOs scheduled, including three who were trained in admission and booking procedures. Unfortunately, those three were unexpectedly unavailable for their shifts. Facility admissions and booking is a specialized assignment that requires specific training. Not all JDC staff are trained in this process. To have all of the trained admissions staff out was unusual and unfortunate.

Staff who were on shift communicated with Golden Valley police that they were trying to find trained staff to complete the admission process and requested that they hold the youth briefly. About a half hour later, staff notified police that they had staff available to book the youth but were told the youth had already been released to family.

We recognize that this delay in admission was not ideal. The county has taken steps to prevent admission delays. Additional staff are being trained to avoid circumstances like this in the future.

On Aug. 4, when the JDC was fully staffed, an incident occurred involving a handful of youth who accessed an office space within the mod that was off-limits to residents. The space was not a control room, as was erroneously stated on some social media platforms, and the youth did not “take over one of the units.” Facility staff talked to the youth, successfully removed them from the space and returned them to their rooms. The entire episode lasted about an hour.”