Ex-NLR jail ending history as lockup for youths; agency to seek other use

— State officials said Friday they don't yet know what will become of the Central Arkansas Observation and Assessment Center in North Little Rock after the delinquent juveniles housed there are moved to another location.

But one thing is certain: No more children will be held in the scandal-plagued center.

Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Friday that all minors will be removed from the center within 60 days.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette revealed chronic abuse of youths at the center in reports published Sunday and Monday. The center, at 204 W. Pershing Blvd., is operated by the Youth Services Division, part of the state Department of Human Services.

Under its 1994 lease agreement with Pulaski County, the department must give 180 days' notice before moving out. The state agency pays the county $230,000 a year for use of the building, which formerly housed the North Little Rock jail.

Department spokesman Joe Quinn said the department would continue to lease the building if it can find an alternative use for it, including storage. The department could also offer the building to other state agencies through the State Building Services office.

"From the very beginning, we said this is not a good facility. It's an old-style jail. It's not a juvenile facility. When we say we're leaving, that's nothing new. We've wanted to move out for a while," Quinn said.

Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines said the county can ill afford to take the building back.

The county leased the building for $1 a year from North Little Rock under an interlocal agreement in 1990 and operated it as part of the regional jail.

Under that agreement, the county also took over the bond payments on the building, which Villines said come to $156,000 a year.

The $230,000 that the department pays the county covers that bond payment and provides $74,000 toward operation of the Pulaski County jail.

"That building is designed for containment, and unfortunately we just don't have the money to operate it. That's basically why we were open to lease it to the state in the first place. We already have 150 or 170 beds out at the refurbished old facility that we don't have the funds to operate," Villines said, referring to the Pulaski County jail.

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