Centre Co., PA (WJAC) — A youth detention center in our area is facing a new crisis and one official is calling it a "potentially dangerous situation," but authorities say it is not due to overcrowding at the center.

The Central Counties Youth Detention Center, located just outside of Bellefonte, serves a regional role, housing young offenders from several counties.

“Centre County is leading the pack in this current year in usage at the facility. The facility provides an important role to probation and the court system to make sure kids in a delinquency crisis can stay locally here.”

It’s often a difficult decision in juvenile arrests and court cases, whether or not to send a young defendant to the detention center.

Unfortunately, many other similar centers have overcrowding problems, but that is not the case for the Central Counties facility.

The problem, rather, is severe understaffing.

“As you know, there's a work force crisis out there and we really need folks to work at the detention center. If you are interested, please contact the detention center. There are a lot of jobs available there.”

There are 14 beds at the detention center and at this point, there are no plans to expand the facility.

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