New Juvenile Center Now Fully Operational - KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, Sports

New Juvenile Center Now Fully Operational

Just two years after being given the go ahead for the project, the brand new Laramie County Juvenile Services Center has gone fully operational.

Laramie County was paying money to a private contractor for it's juvenile program and before that had them in the same facility as adults.

"Out here it's strictly the kids. Everything is designed for the housing and the caring of juveniles," said Lt. Michael Sorenson.

Lieutenant Michael Sorenson says the design of the $7.5 million building was very important to what would be best for the kids.

"We didn't want to have a hard jail setting for the kids. We wanted to soften it up so we always considered all during the construction," Sorenson said.

This brand new facility has been fully operational ever since November 26 and has the capability of housing 16 juveniles.

Including classrooms was the most important thing they felt needed to be incorporated.

"We paid particular attention to make sure that we had a good educational program out here that's tied in with the school district," Sorenson said.

They take in kids ages 11 to 17. Eventually every kid that comes in is going to leave so their number one priority is helping them be better people when they leave than when they arrived.

"We want to provide good educational programs, good mentoring programs while they're here," Sorenson said.

The cost per day for each juvenile is roughly the same as before, but what they're getting for that money with the new facility is very different.

"I think that with the facilities that we have here and the money that we're utilizing, we're providing a good program," Sorenson said.