SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. - The Shelby County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) will turn operations of the Youth Justice and Education Center in Shelby County over to Shelby County Juvenile Court at the end of the year, according to a letter sent by SCSO Sheriff Floyd Bonner obtained by FOX13 Investigates. 

After operating the youth detention center in Shelby County for a decade, SCSO will cease managing the facility on December 31, 2024, the sheriff's letter said. 

"I am required by law to operate the Jail and Jail East. I am not required to operate the Youth Center and need the staff assigned there to increase security and safety at the adult facilities," Sheriff Bonner said in the letter to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. 

In the letter, Sheriff Bonner said that he informed Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon about the decision in December 2023. 

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"We have already provided financial, staff, and other informational material to the Judge and his staff, including a draft transition plan modeled after the one we used in 2014-2015. We stand ready to move the portions of the SCSO budget that apply to the Youth Center when the Court is ready to take over operations and we will certainly be ready to assist throughout and after the transition," Sheriff Bonner's letter said. 

Judge Sugarmon said that Juvenile Court is "dedicated to collaborating with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office to find the optimal solution for the long-term welfare of youth and their families at the Youth Justice and Education Center." 

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Bonner and Sugarmon have recently expressed disagreements about visitation at the Youth Detention Facility. 

Email exchanges show that Judge Sugarmon said Juvenile Court had done all they can do to bring back in-person visits to the facility and blamed the sheriff's office of not compiling. 

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SCSO said that Juvenile Court had not specified who can visit children in custody. 

In his letter informing the Shelby County Commission that SCSO was stepping away from the facility, Sheriff Bonner said that extended COVID precautions played a part in the lack of visitation. 

"It is important to remember that from 2020 through October 2023, there were federal litigation about Covid protocols. The standards are higher for detention facilities due to the congregate living conditions and possibility of quickly spreading outbreak. The SCSO followed the advice of counsel and continued the protocols into 2024. We are finally relaxing the policies," Sheriff Bonner said in his letter. 

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Those in-person visitations were set to resume in April 2024. 

Sheriff Bonner said that he reluctantly made the decision to turn over operations of the facility after bringing it out of Department of Justice oversight and finding a new facility that had "proper classroom space, a proper gym and outdoor space, natural light and better office space for our medical and school partners." 

"We are very proud of what we were able to accomplish at the Center... We hate to leave but are certain they are in the very capable hands of Judge Sugarmon." Sheriff Bonner's letter said.