TITLE
Title
AMEND FOOD SERVICE CONTRACT BETWEEN GUILFORD JUVENILE DETENTION AND ARAMARK FOOD SERVICE
end
SPONSOR
Sponsor
Doug Logan
end
BACKGROUND
Background
Guilford County operates a Juvenile Detention Center, providing a safe, secure and humane environment for youth placed in custody. A component of this service line is providing three daily meals to these youth. In June 2024, the Board of Commissioners approved an extension to the County’s contract with Aramark to continue this service. The agreement with Aramark was developed utilizing three (3) Aramark positions to support preparing meals for an average daily population of 31 juvenile residents. However, over the past twelve (12) months, the County has begun to see an increase in the average daily population, recently reaching 38 juvenile residents.
Part of this increase is associated with the implementation of North Carolina's "Raise the Age" legislation, which increased the age of juvenile jurisdiction to 18 for most offenses. This reform brought 16- and 17-year-olds into the juvenile system, leading to increased demand for detention capacity. Although overall admissions did not initially increase following the implementation of “Raise the Age” - partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic - the average daily population has recently begun to increase closer to 38 juvenile residents. The facility has a max capacity of 44 residents. An additional impact from this legislative change is an increase in the average length of stay in juvenile detention. This increase in the average length of stay reflects the growing number of youths held with pending criminal cases, including those awaiting transfer to Superior Court and those initially under criminal jurisdiction but reassigned to juvenile facilities under the new legislation. For Guilford County, this trend has resulted in higher daily populations.
The higher daily population puts additional strain on the contracted staff to prepare the meals o...
Click here for full text