NO ROOM AT THE INN

The Sangamon County Juvenile Detention Center once had such a paucity of prisoners that the county shut down a 24-bed wing in 2009, housed detainees from other counties and at one point considered converting space to house adult inmates. No longer. Beginning last summer, the population has risen to the point that the county has sent some detainees to facilities in Peoria, McLean and Madison counties. So far this year the center, which has an offi cial maximum capacity of 20, has been above capacity with an average daily population of 20.53 detainees. Administrators attribute the population rise to recent changes in state law that put 17-yearold defendants who were once in the adult system under the jurisdiction of juvenile courts. There has also been an increase in juveniles charged with serious offenses who must be detained, they say. “If you look at national media stuff, they say that crime rates overall are going down,” says Terry Moore, assistant director-superintendent of the center. “That’s just not been our experience.”