Dallas County believes change is happening to improve juvenile detention. Unless they are overselling, it's the kind of modification that needs to happen.

"In essence, we were taking kids who were not doing well to begin with and making them worse," Commissioner Andy Sommerman said. "And that's not the way it's supposed to go."

Report highlights need for change

Sommerman is County Commissioner for District 2. He was put on the Dallas County Juvenile Justice Board. His service was met with a blistering report from the state's Office of the Inspector General for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in September 2024 .

"Punishment is important, "he said. "But by the same token, you don't want to make them worse than when they came in."

According to the report, complaints were receive

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