The Jefferson County Youth Detention Center provides secure, short-term detention care for youth who need detention under specific provisions of Title 12, Chapter 15, and Code of Alabama. Specifically, this is limited to those circumstances:

1. Where the release of the youth would present a substantial threat to the youth
2. Where the release of the youth would present a substantial threat to other persons
3. Where the youth has a history of failure to appear for hearings before the courts
4. Where no suitable person is able and/or willing to provide supervision and care of the youth

The facility provides supervision of detained residents in accordance with accepted detention practices of the American Correctional Association and the Alabama Department of Youth Services. The facility supplies necessary services to detained residents that provide adequate nutrition and health care as well as intellectual growth. This short-term detention, under the four above-listed circumstances, is supplied:

• To those arrested for violations within the jurisdiction of the Family Court of Jefferson County, who are awaiting adjudication hearings
• To those who have been adjudicated and are awaiting disposition
• To those who have been deposed and are awaiting transfer to a placement facility

2025 Census of Juveniles in Youth Detention

The G. Ross Bell Jefferson County Youth Detention Center is adjacent to the Jefferson County Family Court at 140 2nd Court North in Smithfield. The 74,000-square-foot center houses up to 80 residents aged 9 to 18 years old. The center was built in 1990 and named for former Birmingham Recorder's Court Judge George Ross Bell.

The Juvenile Justice Task Force, formed in 2018, supports the center by forging partnerships with community resources such as the UAB Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Jefferson-Blount-St. Clair Mental Health Authority to benefit youth in the program.