Proposed Youth Mental Health Campus Pitched In Southeast Texas To Curb Juvenile Crime

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"A proposed youth mental health and behavioral services campus in Southeast Texas is being pitched as one way to curb juvenile crime and address what local leaders say is a growing need to help adolescents.

Southeast Texas and the Spindletop Center want to transform a property into a facility that would offer mental health and behavioral services for youth. Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said the type of facility being discussed is “something that sorely needed, not just in Jefferson County, but across the United States.”

The proposal comes as Beaumont has seen multiple shootings this year at Virginia Flats Apartments, Perlstein Park and Rogers Park, all involving teens. Regina Rogers said she hopes the program will help stop ongoing youth violence, an effort Branick said he supports.

“Given that this is certainly for a public purpose to reduce, you know, juvenile crime and to hopefully lead, younger individuals to a more productive life, lifestyle,” Branick said.

Plans for the campus include housing for eight girls and eight boys in each building. The program is also set to provide medication for children, raising questions Branick said he is still working through.

“My concerns and the questions I have, which I'm awaiting answers on, relate to the legal authority of the facility to house individuals and to, when necessary, order the, administration of psychoactive medications if necessary,” Branick said.

Branick said officials are working with the Spindletop Center and judges to determine the best options. “Try to, find out the answers to those questions and make sure that we have a project that can have some viability for for being here ten years from now,” he said.

State Rep. Christian Manual secured a $5 million grant to go toward the facility. Rogers is asking Jefferson County for $1.4 million to help buy the property by the end of the year.

“I think we, certainly something that we are going to consider and we'll probably vote on it in the coming weeks,” Branick said.

The Jefferson County Commissioners Court is set to finalize its budget next week, then publish the necessary notices and bring it to a final vote sometime in mid-September."