CHARLOTTE — Children’s advocates joined Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden Wednesday in a push to reopen the juvenile jail.
The sheriff’s office closed the jail in 2022, sending children and teenage inmates to other counties.
In May, Channel 9 reported on McFadden’s plans to reopen the facility, known as Jail North, for adults to help with overcrowding at the Uptown jail.
The sheriff and advocates with The Children’s Alliance agree that Mecklenburg County’s youth should be housed closer to home, but Wednesday’s meeting became heated over who should pay for it.
The sheriff says there is enough room for separate adult and juvenile wings at Jail North, but he says it would cost about $38 million to renovate the juvenile space and nearly $18 million a year to operate it.
Advocates warn the state could direct available funding somewhere else if local leaders don’t reach an agreement soon.
“Youth do better long term when they are served in their own communities,” Frank Crawford, with The Children’s Alliance, said. “We have to be able to figure this out, and our plea is for these entities to figure out how this can be done.”
McFadden argues the state has the millions needed to pay for renovations, but hasn’t agreed to give it to him.
“We have the money, so why don’t you give it to this sheriff to run it?” McFadden said. “You don’t have to lease it. You don’t have to worry about it. Provide us the funding; we will build it and run it.”
The sheriff says he is willing to move forward if the state commits the money upfront. For now, there is still no deal.