Gov. Dave Freudenthal wants Natrona County to scale back the size of its proposal for a new juvenile detention center, according to a letter he sent to a county official last month.

In the letter, Freudenthal expressed "serious concerns" with the size of the planned 32- to 36-bed facility. The governor noted studies and other data suggested a smaller detention center would serve the county's needs.

"I would hope that you would revise your application and seek the funds for a 24-bed facility," he wrote to Natrona County Commission Chair Rob Hendry.

Hendry maintains the larger facility is necessary to house juveniles without mixing low- and high-risk offenders. County officials came up with the 32- to 36-bed plan after consulting a number of state and local agencies, he added.

"We didn't pull those numbers out of the air," Hendry said Tuesday. "And we think we are right."

The county's existing 40-bed juvenile detention center is housed in downtown Casper in a facility that was deemed unfit for adult prisoners more than a decade ago. Critics say youths are held in "cold concrete jail cells without natural light" and aren't let outside for fresh air and exercise.

The governor has offered to use some of Wyoming's share of stimulus money to build the new facility. But retired district judge Gary Hartman, who serves as Freudenthal's advisor on juvenile justice, suggested the stimulus money might not be available if county officials insist on the larger facility.

"I believe that unless some good documentation is presented that there is a need for a large facility, in all probability, (the county) would not get that money," he said.

The county hopes to receive $8 million in stimulus money and put in another $3 million to $5 million of its own funds to build the facility, Hendry said. It applied for the money last month.

In pushing for a smaller facility, Freudenthal pointed out Campbell County just opened a new juvenile detention center and a proposal is moving forward to place smaller facilities in Sheridan, Basin, Jackson and Rawlins. Roughly 40 percent of the children who are housed at Natrona County's juvenile detention center come from outside the area.

"The governor wants to make sure, if we are using the stimulus money, let's make sure we have the appropriate size facility for Natrona County's needs," Hartman said.

From Hendry's perspective, those needs are best filled through the large facility. In the past two months, the county's detention center has housed 28 children on four different occasions and 30 kids at least once, he noted.

"So 32 to 36, we don't think we are that far off," he said.

County officials have a meeting set up with the governor next week to discuss the issue. Hendry said he hopes Freudenthal will keep an open mind.

"We wanted to talk to him before it all came out [publicly], but apparently he didn't care about that," the chairman said.

The letter's public disclosure frustrated Commissioner Barb Peryam, who noted the meeting has been planned for weeks.

"We were blindsided on this," she said.

Reach crime reporter Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com. Visit tribtown.trib.com/JoshuaWolfson/blog to read his blog.