CLEVELAND — After less than a year on the job, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court confirmed Tuesday that its Director of Detention Services is no longer an employee.
RELATED: Cuyahoga County's juvenile detention director fired for poor performance
Delbert Montgomery had been running Cuyahoga County's Juvenile Detention Center since May 14, 2018. He was hired after a national search to bring in a director to lead the facility following a riot that caused an estimated $200,000 in damages, and a consultant's report that highlighted a number of problems with the way the detention center operated.
"Mr. Montgomery has over 17 years of experience working in both juvenile detention services and the US Air Force," administrative judge Kristin Sweeney told a Cuyahoga County Council committee last year. "He brings a wealth of skills and knowledge having worked as a line staff, to an administrator in various juvenile and residential facilities in Georgia, Kansas, and Missouri."
In a one-line statement responding to a request for information by 5 On Your Side Investigators, a juvenile court spokeswoman wrote, "Mr. Delbert Montgomery is no longer an employee at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court." That spokeswoman also could not confirm when Montgomery's personnel file would be available for release.
In its report on conditions inside the facility released last September, the review team from the Center for Children's Law and Policy noted Montgomery's "history of working to remedy conditions in troubled juvenile facilities." The report added, "The team believes that Mr. Montgomery's experience will help the facility implement policies and practices that will improve consistency and accountability across all areas of facility operations."
No one answered calls placed Tuesday to two phone numbers listed for Montgomery.
