Richard Ross
Summit View Facility, Las Vegas, Nevada. Formerly a maximum security juvenile facility. It was built in 1996 and closed in 2010, at which point it held 48 juveniles. Most of them went to ELKO, some to group homes, placements, back to parents, etc. None were transferred to adult corrections or out of state.
Thursday, May 16, 2013 | 5:40 p.m.
Summit View Facility, Las Vegas, Nevada. Formerly a maximum security juvenile facility. It was built in 1996 and closed in 2010, at which point it held 48 juveniles. Most of them went to ELKO, some to group homes, placements, back to parents, etc. None were transferred to adult corrections or out of state.
Summit View, the high-security juvenile detention center in Las Vegas, is a step closer to reopening.
Amber Howell, administrator of the state Division of Child and Family Services, said Thursday that negotiations would begin with the nonprofit Rite of Passage group to reopen the facility in October.
A committee rated Rite of Passage the highest of three nonprofit groups that submitted bids. The company currently operates group homes for children in the Carson Valley and adjoining California counties.
Summit View was closed in 2012 due to a lack of state funding, and the youths were sent to the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko. But the Elko facility will be downsized because it would cost too much to upgrade it to house more serious juvenile offenders.
A study committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice Nancy Saitta, recommended the reopening of Summit View. State officials said $750,000 could be saved by allowing a nonprofit organization to manage it.
Howell said the negotiations with Rite of Passage will include such things as how much the state will pay for each bed, how to handle a $1.3 million bond remaining that was issued to build the center and other items.
She said the state must rehabilitate the facility and buy equipment such as beds and kitchen utensils that were sent to other youth centers after the closing.
There are 96 beds and the state will use 50 of them, allowing the winning contractor to accept out-of-state delinquents to fill the center.
Rite of Passage will provide education and treatments for the juveniles.
The center is surrounded by a fence and Howell said the delinquents “will not be able to leave at will.”
She said the contract should be finished by June 4 and ready for final approval in July by the state Board of Examiners.
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