Colorado’s Division of Youth Services last month removed all youth from its Lookout Mountain detention center amid what advocates say were deteriorating safety conditions.

All 36 young people at Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden were temporarily transferred to other state-run facilities, DYS interim director Dave Lee told juvenile justice stakeholders in an Aug. 28 memo reviewed by The Denver Post. Many of the staff members there have also been temporarily relocated to support youth at their new centers.

Lee did not discuss the reasoning for the sudden move, only saying that this “will allow DYS to use available statewide resources to support youth currently assigned” to Lookout Mountain.

“The division takes action like this from time to time and comes as part of our

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