Dallas Committed to Transforming Detention Center
Dallas County Juvenile Department chief Lynn Hadnot shared JJAI’s assessment report on the local news. He made clear their commitment to adopt changes that we recommended, including allowing families longer visits that will include physical contact, enhanced programming and policy changes to eliminate solitary confinement. JJAI will be working with Dallas County for the rest of 2025 on the report implementation.
US Govt funding cut for Latino youth art project
The US Department of Justice terminated over 360 grants, from victim services, to youth reentry programs. Many of JJAI’s U.S. colleagues are facing drastic programming and staffing cuts that will put children, families and communities at greater risk. JJAI had received a two year grant to expand our “Reflejos de Dignidad” art education collaboration with the National Museum of Mexican Art to include Latino youth in Puerto Rico, Albuquerque and Houston. Last week, our grant was also terminated. We don’t anticipate any staffing cuts, but will be limiting our focus to Puerto Rico. This will minimize the budget impact as we explore options for filling the resulting budget gap.
New Mexico Visit Renews Partnership
JJAI’s partner in Albuquerque, La Plazita Institute, hosted our Director Douglas Keillor, our Latin America Director Sarahi Garcia and our Puerto Rico Coordinator Jose Figueroa for three days. While the art project grant that was the reason for the visit was canceled while we were onsite, it was a great chance to renew our deep friendship with the our familia at La Plazita and strategize how to navigate a very challenging environment for human rights and justice reform advocates. This was our second site visit to La Plazita, the first taking place in 2018.
Detention Reform Experts Join JJAI U.S. Team
As demand for detention facility assessments ramp up for JJAI, we are excited to announce the addition of two new team members, Jason Szanyi and Beth Oprisch.
Jason Szanyi is an attorney with 15 years experience in youth justice reform in the U.S. Much of that time, Jason worked with the nationally-recognized Center for Children’s Law and Policy.
Beth Oprisch collaborated with JJAI on the facility assessment in Dallas County as a consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Before that, Beth worked for the Pretrial Justice Institute and the Ohio Department of Youth Services as the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative state coordinator.
