By Michael Johnson
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio’s $260 million replacement for the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility would have space for 30 fewer youths than were housed at the existing facility this spring, according to a recent state inspection.
The four planned replacement facilities — two in Bedford and two in Grafton — will have combined capacity for 144 youths. A March 26 inspection by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office counted 174 youths at the existing Cuyahoga Hills facility in Highland Hills .
The inspection was a one-day snapshot and may not reflect the actual population when the first replacement facility opens, which the Ohio Department of Youth Services expects in 2027 or 2028. Still, the comparison illustrates a central consequence of the state’s plan: Ohio is reducing institutional capacity while shifting youths into smaller housing groups and expanding local alternatives to state confinement.
Bedford City Council unanimously approved the local campus Monday, cleveland.com previously reported. Bedford will receive two 36-bed residential buildings at the former U.S. Bank property on Rockside Road . Two more are planned in Grafton .
Smaller buildings, fewer beds
The governor’s office says the General Assembly provided a $260 million capital investment for the four Bedford and Grafton facilities.
Each 36-bed building will contain three housing units limited to 12 youths each. That differs from Cuyahoga Hills’ open-dormitory design, which can place as many as 24 youths in one room, according to an Ohio House announcement about the project.
State announcements have described Cuyahoga Hills as a 180-bed institution, making the planned 144-bed replacement a reduction of 36 beds, or 20%.
The attorney general’s inspection report separately listed 256 available beds at Cuyahoga Hills. The public records reviewed do not explain why that figure differs from the state’s description of the institution as having 180 beds. The comparison in this story therefore uses the documented March population rather than the conflicting capacity figures.
Cuyahoga County also received nearly $30 million for a 32-bed Community Correctional Facility . The secure treatment center is intended to give juvenile judges an alternative to committing some youths to state custody.
County court officials have projected that the facility could divert as many as 70 youths annually from the state system. It has not opened.
What the funding covers
The Ohio Controlling Board approved $130 million in January for the Cuyahoga Hills replacement project in Bedford and Grafton. The Department of Youth Services’ first-quarter update describes the money as support for projected construction expenses.
Earlier cleveland.com reporting found that about $113 million was designated for construction and site preparation, including utilities, ground improvements, renovations and equipment. About $12.6 million was reserved for contingencies and $4.4 million for Ohio Facilities Construction Commission fees.
The $130 million applies to the broader Bedford - Grafton replacement project, not the Bedford campus alone. Available public records do not fully explain how that release fits within the $260 million capital investment cited by the governor’s office.
The state bought the 79,000-square-foot Bedford office property for nearly $4.9 million in 2024. The existing building will be renovated for administration, education and youth programming, while the two new residential buildings will provide 72 beds, cleveland.com previously reported.
Staffing and safety pressures
The March inspection found 35 vacancies among 299 positions at Cuyahoga Hills, including 24 vacancies among 146 youth-specialist jobs. Employees had worked 3,683 overtime hours from Jan. 1 through the inspection date.
Inspectors also reviewed 31 uses of force recorded from March 1 through March 26 . They included 13 youth-on-youth assaults and 10 fights. No youth-on-staff assaults were recorded during that period.
The report nevertheless found the institution generally well-maintained and said staff demonstrated professionalism. Inspectors identified staffing vacancies, food-service deficiencies, four nonfunctional restroom sinks and incomplete documentation on two assessments required after violent incidents.
The Ohio Juvenile Justice Working Group recommended replacing large institutions with smaller, decentralized facilities. Its report cited research associating smaller facilities with stronger staff-youth relationships, reduced staff stress, less use of isolation and easier supervision.
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