TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Apr 18, 2024

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner has announced that his office would hand over management of the Youth Justice and Education Center to the Shelby County Juvenile Court by the end of 2024. In an email to the Shelby County Commission, Bonner cited the need to focus deputies at adult facilities, including the jail at 201 Poplar Ave., as his office deals with understaffing, reports the Daily Memphian. The sheriff's office voluntarily took on management of the youth center in 2014 at the request of then-Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael. The facility was under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice. Juvenile Judge Tarik Sugarmon agreed with Bonner that it makes sense to bring the operation of the center back under the control of the juvenile court, but expressed concern that the timeline doesn’t provide enough time to set up an appropriate management plan. Sugarmon told Action News 5 that he sees the transition as an opportunity to improve the care of young people in the justice system.