The Mary Davis Home in Galesburg will begin transferring all youth detained at the facility to other locations as soon as “practicable,” according to a formal notice of closure filed in federal court.
The notice, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, follows an announcement last week that the juvenile detention home will close indefinitely on March 21.
The Mary Davis Home is one of 15 county juvenile centers in the state. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, receives funding from the state, and is affiliated with Knox County, which maintains the building at 1319 E. 5th St. and pays a few salaries.
According to the filing, all youth detained at the Mary Davis Home will be transferred to other facilities no later than March 20. In addition, the facility will not accept any new detainees from outside the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
The filing does not state where detainees will be transferred, though there are similar facilities in Adams and Peoria counties.
The Mary Davis Home will be the second juvenile detention center under the jurisdiction of a judicial circuit to close since the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice implemented new standards for the facilities in 2022.
It’s also the second one to face a federal lawsuit from ACLU of Illinois after failing state audits under the new standards and failing to make improvements.
The Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center in southern Illinois closed in late 2024, according to reporting from ProPublica.
While the Mary Davis Home has made improvements in some areas, it has been out of compliance in discipline in every audit since the new standards were implemented. In the most recent audit, it was also out of compliance for mental health services, education, and food services.
The ongoing federal class action lawsuit against the Mary Davis Home challenges its confinement policies, saying the practice causes lasting harm.
The class was certified in September. The following month, a federal judge ordered the facility to end the practice of solitary confinement except as a temporary restriction to prevent imminent physical harm.
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