Effective 28 Aug 1998

211.331. Detention facilities, superintendent, appointment, compensation — acquisition of land (counties of first and second classification). — 1. In each county of the first and second classifications and in the city of St. Louis, it is the duty of the county commission, or, where there is no county commission, such other authorized body, to provide a place of detention for children coming within the provisions of this chapter. It is also the duty of the county commission or other authorized body to provide offices for the personnel of the juvenile court.

2. The place of detention shall be so located and arranged that the child being detained does not come in contact, at any time or in any manner, with adults convicted or under arrest, and the care of children in detention shall approximate as closely as possible the care of children in good homes.

3. The place of detention shall be in charge of a superintendent. The judge of the juvenile court or the family court administrator, if provided by local rule, shall appoint and fix the compensation and maintenance of the superintendent and of any assistants or other personnel required to operate the detention facility. Such compensation and maintenance are payable out of funds of the county.

4. The county commission or other governing body of the county is authorized to lease or to acquire by purchase, gift or devise land for such purpose, and to erect buildings thereon and to provide funds to equip and maintain the same for the subsistence and education of the children placed therein.

­­--------

(L. 1957 p. 642 § 211.160, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1226)

(1979) County charter provision relating to power of a county official to control places of detention and correction for juveniles was without effect as statute placed control of such facilities in juvenile court. State ex rel. St. Louis County v. Edwards, et al. (Mo.), 589 S.W.2d 283.