Juvenile Facility Agrees to Temporarily Halt Admissions

BUHL -- The Minnesota Department of Corrections has suspended new admissions to a privately run juvenile correctional facility in northern Minnesota.

That action was announced Thursday. Deputy Corrections Commissioner Ron Solheid says Mesabi Academy agreed to the suspension.

Mesabi Academy is a 123-bed facility in Buhl licensed by the state Department of Corrections. It houses boys sent by juvenile courts, by county social services agencies and by parents and guardians.

The agreement comes after the state Department of Human Services and at least four counties removed more than 50 boys from Mesabi Academy in the past week, saying they had concerns about maltreatment allegations.

A spokesman for the academy's parent company, KidsPeace, says a unit of American Public Media, that the company is cooperating with the state and counties.