PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County officials are putting together an advisory board to oversee the Shuman Center after the building sat shuttered for years following major violations and a state-ordered shutdown.
Channel 11 News took a closer look at what power this board will have to try to make sure those violations aren’t repeated.
“The previous county executive allowed it to get dilapidated and a lot of harm and abuses to happen there,” said Bethany Hallam, county council member at large.
In 2021, the state forced Shuman Juvenile Detention Center to close following a series of violations, and for three years the county scrambled to find places to send young offenders. In 2024, the center reopened as a private facility run by Adelphoi a non-profit that operates similar facilities across the region.
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A concern for county council members and following legal litigation a state-mandated advisory board was agreed upon.
The board members are not paid and cannot make any rules or enforce policies within the facility but can offer a community perspective and recommendations.
“This advisory board does not have any teeth to fix things. It can recommend and cross its fingers and hope that the folks at run Adelphoi actually listen,” Hallam said.
The advisory board will have 10 members, including County Executive Sara Innamorato, County Controller Corey O’Conner and eight community members. Three community members have already been appointed by President Judge Susan Evashavik.
The county executive will appoint four more and on Tuesday, the county council will have their nominee approved.
The council put forth three names:
- Dr. Terri Dilmore, a juvenile justice professor at Howard University.
- Lee Davis, the Director of Violence Prevention at Greater Valley Community Services.
- Rabbi Moishe Vogel, the Executive Director of Aleph Institute, a Jewish humanitarian organization that focuses on reentry programs for the formerly incarcerated.
We spoke with Vogel and Davis and asked what they would like to prioritize within the detention center.
“God has to be a part of the solution, but more important is to hear what other successful detention centers around the country are doing and to duplicate those activities,” Vogel said.
Both candidates told us their experiences will help them connect with kids and advocate for them.
“I think we really need to look at what mental health will look like inside the system, what care is going to look like, not only with the participants that are in the building but also with the staff,” Davis said.
President Judge Susan J. Evashavik has selected the following individuals to fill the required three appointments on the Board of Advisors:
- The Honorable Judge Jennifer S. McCrady, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas
- Edward Mulvey, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus and Former Director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
- Cheyenne Tyler, Executive Director, Café Momentum
The Inamoratto nominated the following five people last summer, now she needs to select four names and one from the Council list above:
- The Honorable Judge Tiffany E. Sizemore, Allegheny Court of Common Pleas
- Dr. Kathi Elliott, Chief Executive Officer, Gwen’s Girls
- Richard Garland, Executive Director, Reimagine Reentry
- Kristy Trautmann, Executive Director, FISA Foundation
- Mica Williams, Senior Program Manager, TASC’s Center for Health and Justice
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