The newly-named head of the Dallas Department of Juvenile Services called previous reports of mistreatment at the county's youth detention center "concerning" and promised changes at the department under his leadership. The Dallas County Juvenile Board named H. Lynn Hadnot to the role Friday. He's served as the head of Collin County's Juvenile Services Department for eight years, after working his way up from an entry-level probation officer position in 2005. "I think the sky’s the limit for Dallas County," he said in an interview with WFAA Monday. "I’m really looking to have Dallas County be at the forefront of leading the state of Texas." The department he will officially lead following a Juvenile Board vote in January has faced recent, public challenges. Multiple former and current employees shared photos with WFAA in June showing unsanitary conditions at the Juvenile Detention Center, and provided documents showing the juvenile inmates, who range in ages from 11 to 18 years old, were out of their cells for only an hour or two and didn’t go to school. An investigation from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, which released a report on the issue this fall, also found officers at a juvenile detention center in Dallas kept children isolated for days and falsified records of observation checks and school attendance. "I would be remiss if I didn’t say the past reports were concerning," Hadnot said. "I do know — having done this work — that things do happen when you’re dealing with a high-risk, high-needs population. But at the end of the day, it’s about making sure that when you have incidents, those incidents are isolated." "I know that all is not bad with Dallas. If I believed that, I wouldn’t be going," Hadnot said. He said he does not support the practice of solitary confinement for juveniles and pledged to increase transparency with the community. "I’m not pretending to come in and be the savior for Dallas County. That’s not my style," Hadnot said. FULL STORY: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-county/new-director-dallas-juvenile-services-sees-bright-future-for-troubled-department/287-01aa255a-ae1e-4b15-9187-72c50a244d4f