CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming intends to apply for federal economic stimulus funding to help build juvenile detention facilities including a sorely needed juvenile jail in Casper, a top juvenile justice official said Thursday.

Gary Hartman, Gov. Dave Freudenthal's juvenile justice adviser, said the state is seeking $15 million in stimulus funding for juvenile facilities.

The money would help replace a much-criticized Casper juvenile detention center. It also would help Wyoming set up short-term holding facilities for juvenile arrestees that would substitute for putting youths in juvenile detention centers and adult jails.

The state expects to apply for stimulus funding for juvenile facilities by the end of this month. After that, Wyoming will have to wait and see whether it will get the money, Hartman said.

"It's iffy, I have to tell you that. But hopefully if we get that money, then we can talk about some real detail about where these funds are to go - and how much," Hartman said.

A priority is to replace a juvenile detention center on the third floor of the Hall of Justice building in Casper, Hartman said. The facility housed adult inmates until about 12 years ago, after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit over conditions.

A new jail was built and the old jail closed. But Natrona County reopened the old jail as a juvenile facility for youngsters from central and eastern Wyoming.

Recent problems at the facility have included youth-on-youth assaults. Juvenile advocates also have criticized how it's difficult for inmates to get any time outdoors while being locked up, sometimes for months at a time, on the third floor.

Hartman said Freudenthal toured the juvenile detention center in March.

"He was of the firm opinion that we need to find a way to remedy the situation so that kids are not being held in an old adult jail," Hartman said.

Natrona County officials have said they would like a new juvenile facility but don't have enough money to build one.

Hartman said stimulus funding would also be used for group homes in Basin, Jackson, Sheridan and possibly Rawlins that would offer alternatives to locking up juveniles for short periods.

Right now, police and deputies often have no choice but to lock up youngsters when they pick them up late at night and can't find the parents - otherwise, they would have to be baby sitters. The group home staff would supervise juveniles without locking them up.

Meanwhile, Volunteers of America in Sheridan is watching what's being done with federal stimulus money it has disbursed with the goal of keeping youngsters out of detention.

Earlier this year, the group distributed $817,000 from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to help Wyoming communities develop alternatives to juvenile detention.

Those alternatives include supervised programs that judges can sentence juveniles to complete.

Volunteers of America recently took over supervision of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention program in Wyoming from the Wyoming Community Commissioners Association.

Wyoming is the only state that doesn't participate in the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the federal law that governs the conditions in which youths under 18 can and can't be locked up.

Craig Fisgus, division director for Volunteers of America in Wyoming and Montana, said the purpose of the annual funding is to eventually bring Wyoming into compliance with the law.

"The responsibilities are big but I think it's something that fits with what we do," he said.