Richard Juvenile Justice Center to be dedicated August 13th

The Senator Ron Richard Juvenile Justice Center will be dedicated at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 13th at 530 S. Pearl Ave. in Joplin.

The Missouri State detention facility houses both short and long-term male detainees.

Jasper County’s new Juvenile Services Center replaces its previous  facility while taking advantage of the opportunity to consolidate all of the County’s juvenile services.

It consolidates four separate functions: detention, alternative education, courts and administration, all with the purpose to provide a therapeutic setting, supporting youth’s return to society. Jasper County approached this project with the vision of providing a progressive design around new County policies and aspirational goals to ultimately divert juveniles out of detention.

To aid the County’s efforts in diverting juveniles from detention, this facility was programmed for the County’s needs and planned to benefit the youth it serves. A centrally located, two-story juvenile court space is where the process begins, separating the alternative education spaces from the detention spaces both programmatically and visually.

While the detention program is designed for eight juveniles, and there is space for an additional eight in the future, the alternative education can serve more than 40 juveniles at once.

Senator Ron Richard passed away in the spring of 2023 at age 75.

Richard  graduated from McAuley High School in 1965 and received a bachelor of arts from Missouri Southern State University in 1969 and a master of arts from Missouri State University in 1971.

Richard first started his political career with the city of Joplin, becoming mayor from 1994-1998

His time in the State Legislature began in 2002 when he joined the House of Representatives. He served eight years in the House before being voted into the state Senate in 2010, President Pro Tempore from 2015 – 2018.

He was also most recently named to the MSSU Board of Governors and to the Connect2Culture Board of Directors in Joplin and as Co-Chair of the Missouri Bicentennial Commission.