HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge ruled Friday that the Cambria County Prison is providing a juvenile with sufficient “sight and sound” housing away from adult inmates after the juvenile notified his attorney of an adult “shouting” at him.

Dillan James Hufford, 16, is being charged as an adult for his alleged role in a June 2024 robbery that left a man with skull fractures, spinal injuries and dentures embedded in his gums.

Hufford faces two felony counts of aggravated assault and single felony counts of robbery and criminal conspiracy to engage in robbery, as well as single misdemeanor counts of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and theft.

Hufford’s bail was initially set at $50,000 unsecured on Nov. 12 but was modified to $500,000 monetary on Dec. 9 once his case was moved to adult court. He has been housed at the Cambria County Prison since Dec. 11.

Corey Emerson, a corrections officer at the Cambria County Prison, was called to testify by Assistant District Attorney Julia Wilt during the interest of justice hearing.

He described the layout of the prison’s juvenile wing as a horseshoe, with two doors at either end and a sliding metal door in the middle. Adult inmates are kept on one side of the sliding door while juveniles are kept on the other, he said.

“There is no way for them to see (each other) at all,” Emerson said of the inmates on either side of the door.

As for hearing, Emerson said “everything echoes in those halls.”

When asked by defense attorney Benjamin Kahn if an adult inmate would be able to shout at a juvenile when the door was open, Emerson said “someone could shout, but they would receive a misconduct.”

Emerson also clarified that the door was “opened” but “not ever left open.”

Kahn then asked Emerson if he was aware of an alleged incident during which an adult inmate shouted at Hufford while the door was opened, to which Emerson said he didn’t hear about it and received no incident report. He told the court that incident reports were read every morning so he “would’ve known immediately.”

Wilt also called Shaun Edmundson, deputy warden of inmate services at the Blair County Prison, to testify. Edmundson confirmed that he arranged for Hufford to be housed at the Cambria County Prison as Blair County lacks the facilities to properly care for juvenile inmates.

Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Joseph Cox then took the stand, telling the court he had spoken with the Cambria prison officials.

“They said they didn’t find any basis for the accusation,” Cox said.

Following testimony, presiding Judge Jackie Atherton Bernard said that under PREA standards for youth in adult facilities, the “goal is to prevent ongoing sight and sound” interaction between juvenile and adult inmates with the understanding that “there will be some in passing that may occur.”

Hufford’s next court appearance is scheduled for 3 p.m. April 2.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.