Juvenile Detention Center

The West Alabama Youth Services Juvenile Detention Center officially opened in 1996 near Greensboro, Alabama, after several years of planning and construction. Under the guidance of Hale County District Judge William A. Ryan, president and chairman of the board of the West Alabama Youth Services, the $2.7 million center was developed. The facility was operated by the Corrections Corporation of Virginia. The corporation had established agreements with Hale, Marengo, Greene, Pickens, and Perry counties to house juveniles at the facility. Ryan, drawing from his experience as a former director of a youth center in Dallas County, identified the need for a more modern and professionally managed facility. As a testament to Judge Ryan’s dedication, officials decided to name the facility in his honor.

By order of the courts, juveniles between the ages of twelve and seventeen were brought to the youth center for charges ranging from truancy to burglary or theft. By December 1996, most of the available beds had been filled. The facility alleviated travel problems for many sheriff’s offices, which, before had to drive three hours to take offenders to a facility in Baldwin County. In addition to being one of the most modern facilities of its kind in the country, the William A. Ryan Youth Center was designed with security in mind, with no cell blocks and plenty of space for the nearly three dozen individual and isolation cells.

To fund the detention center, a daily rate of $75 to $120 was negotiated with neighboring counties for bed space. Young offenders were maintained in individual holding rooms within a larger room where supervisors had a good view from an upper floor. Anyone sent to the detention center was required to keep up with their schoolwork, and teachers were available daily to help them with their studies. The William A. Ryan Youth Center closed in the 2000s due to a lack of funding. The building has been abandoned for a longer period than it was in use. The former youth detention center was demolished in July 2025.

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