LA county axes leadership in juvenile detention system over rampant violence, officer morale collapse – LA Probation Dept cuts 14 managers, 13 chief deputies amid struggles with violence and staffing
July 8, 2024
Authorities in Southern California have axed more than a dozen top officials after complaints of violence and injuries from rank-and-file officers in the county’s juvenile facilities.
Los Angeles County Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa said that 14 top managers would be impacted and 13 chief deputy positions would be eliminated – “an entire layer of management” in the department, which has 6,600 employees.
The impacted individuals were offered positions in other county offices, authorities said.
Sources tell Fox News Digital the shakeup is connected to chaos within the county’s juvenile facilities. Officers have been complaining of increasing violence against themselves and between inmates at the jails for at least the past two years.
Juvenile facilities halt entries as rising populations create challenges for youth and staff
July 6, 2024
OLYMPIA, Wash.- On July 5, Green Hill School in Chehalis and Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie have suspended entries to curb rising populations in juvenile rehabilitation facilities.
According to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families’ decision to stop taking youth comes as officials attempt to stabilize the rising populations and keep both youth and staff members safe and sustainable.
Ross Hunter, the DCFY Secretary responsible for the decision, alerted juvenile, adult, and tribal courts statewide of the decision to suspend intakes at its facilities.
Hunter explains, “When too many young people are concentrated in small spaces it can escalate behaviors and limit the ability for therapeutic rehabilitation,” explained Hunter. “This was not sustainable. Our facilities must be safe, therapeutic, and functional.”
Rising populations have posed challenges to the facilities as more young people are being sentenced for more extended periods.
Federal Lawsuit Against Tulsa County Juvenile Justice Center Expands; Adds Ten More Victims
July 5, 2024
Nearly a dozen more teenagers who were or are in custody at the Tulsa County Juvenile Justice Center have been added to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses center employees of rape, neglect, and harassment toward those in custody at the center.
Nearly a dozen more teenagers who were or are in custody at the Tulsa County Juvenile Justice Center have been added to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses center employees of rape, neglect, and harassment toward those in custody at the center. . .
One teenager says while he was in custody there, he was forced to remove his own stitches after being denied a follow-up appointment with a doctor. Others say they were denied medication they were prescribed, or the medications brought in by their parents were given to other kids. . .
These new allegations come after 20 victims have now accused detention staff of rape, child abuse, and harassment. Two former employees named in the suit, Jonathan Hines and Dquan Doyle, have been charged with felonies in Tulsa County.
Hines is being charged with human trafficking, soliciting a minor for indecent exposure, and destroying evidence. Doyle is being charged with sexual battery, indecent exposure, and aiding a minor in a drug crime.
Pepper spray, beatings and neglect: DCS sued over treatment of kids in Tennessee’s juvenile justice facilities
June 26, 2024
One child was kept in solitary confinement until he was driven to rip his hair out. Another was shackled in his cell, held down by staff and pepper sprayed for being “disrespectful.” These are just a few of the allegations laid out in a class action lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Tennessee on Wednesday.
The state of Tennessee, Department of Children’s Services, and the commissioners of both DCS and the Department of Education were named in the suit for failing to protect children in the juvenile justice system from physical and mental harm.
The more than 100 page document alleges that the juvenile justice system in Tennessee punishes children with disabilities instead of treating them, exacerbating mental health problems and pushing kids to self-harm or suicidal ideation. And it states that Tennessee’s DCS has known about many of these issues inside facilities, yet their “policy of inaction” allowed it to continue. The attorney general’s office responded on behalf of DCS and said the department is aware of the lawsuit, but didn’t provide further comment. . .
It details the widespread and illegal use of solitary confinement in facilities across the state. One boy with depression and PTSD was kept in solitary for over six months, the suit alleges, spending 23 hours per day alone in his cell. Staff slipped his homework under the door instead of letting him go to school. He became suicidal.
NC legislature overrides Cooper’s veto on juvenile justice reform
June 25, 2024
The North Carolina legislature voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the Juvenile Justice Bill, otherwise known as Raise the Age, which was implemented in 2019.
The House voted, 70-46, on Wednesday, to override Cooper’s veto. On Thursday, the Senate voted in favor of overriding the veto.
House lawmakers in Raleigh toughened the system for some teens. It says that 16- and 17-year-olds charged with violent crimes, including murder, rape, armed robbery, and more, will automatically be charged as an adult in North Carolina.
It’s a change from 2019′s Raise the Age law, which sent all arrested teens younger than 18 to juvenile court first. Some lawmakers said the change brings accountability.
A new Kentucky law will send more youth to adult court — Black kids face highest risk
June 24, 2024
Starting next month, more kids who are charged with violent crimes will be automatically prosecuted as adults. In Louisville, police data show most will be Black.
During a legislative committee meeting in February, Sen. Matthew Deneen introduced a bill that he said would address an important issue in Kentucky — violent crime committed by kids. The solution, he said, is to start treating them as adults.
“If you’re a juvenile and you pick up a gun to commit a crime, you’re committing an adult crime, and you need to be tried as an adult,” said Deneen, a Republican from Elizabethtown.
The bill passed the full Kentucky legislature in April and will officially become law next month. When it does, any juvenile at least 15 years of age who commits a class A, B or C felony using a gun, whether the gun works or not, will be automatically sent to adult circuit court. A child convicted as an adult would receive the same penalties as an adult offender, except they’d be housed with other juveniles until their 18th birthday.
Youth advocates say the policy won’t address the root of the problem and will instead perpetuate a harmful cycle of inequity in the justice system.
Department of Youth Services trying to ‘right size’ programs to shifting populations
June 24, 2024
The executive director of the Alabama Department of Youth Services (DYS) Friday laid out potential changes to the department operations that he said reflected the changing needs of the population they serve.
Steven Lafreniere said at a meeting that the department, which administers juvenile justice and services, needed to accommodate longer-term stays of the children coming to the department.
“We’re getting in more serious kids, I would say or high risk kids that have more health, behavioral health needs as well as mental health needs,” he said. . . . Lafreniere said that the situation was aggravated due to issues around staffing and described it as a “perfect storm.”
Cooper issues 96th veto on ‘Raise the Age’ modifications bill
June 20, 2024
RALEIGH — Roy Cooper issued the 96th veto of his two terms as governor on a bill modifying the state’s “Raise the Age” law.
House Bill 834 modified the law by altering the definition of juvenile delinquent and requiring 16- and 17-year-olds who commit certain serious felonies to be sent automatically to Superior Court instead of juvenile court.
“Most violent crimes, even when committed by teenagers, should be handled in adult court. However, there are cases where sentences would be more effective and appropriate to the severity of the crime for teenagers if they were handled in juvenile court, making communities safer,” Cooper wrote in his veto message. “This bill makes this important option highly unlikely and begins to erode our bipartisan ‘Raise the Age’ law we agreed to four years ago.
https://nsjonline.com/article/2024/06/cooper-issues-96th-veto-on-raise-the-age-modifications-bill
Teachers say they were attacked by students at residential juvenile detention facility where girl died – Records show 195 calls to 9-1-1, including reports of assault and abuse
June 19, 2024
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Last week, we reported that the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice shut down Lake Academy in Tampa after a girl died there late last month.
A D.J.J. spokesperson sent an email statement to the I-Team Tuesday indicating the department had ended its contract with the company that operated the facility, even before the investigations into the girl’s death were completed.
Now, the I-Team is hearing from two former teachers who were attacked while working at Lake Academy.
Whistleblower shares pictures of nasty conditions inside Dallas County’s juvie lockup
June 16, 2024
What is happening inside the juvenile detention center in Dallas County? It depends on who you ask. Former and current employees came to us with concerns and shared photos of the inside the living conditions when they would come out of.
“You know, it was, it was pretty bad. A former employee who asked me not identify him shared these images. Some of the pictures of toilets overflowing with feces are too disturbing to broadcast so we can’t show them to you. But these we can, it shows a facility in recent months that is filthy and unsanitary. There was trash piled up and they had gnats flying around, you know, all their toilets were clogged up, mattresses were ripped, blankets were ripped, you know, it was, it was (not) pretty.”
He and others we spoke to say they are speaking out because they’re concerned about the living conditions and staffing shortages. Kids as young as 11 years old are inside the juvenile detention facility. “The majority of the times these kids are up, you know, for three or four days straight, you know, it’s just very, very sad to see these kids are being neglected like that. Um, you know, there’s days where they don’t even shower at times just because, you know, there’s no, no staff.”
Contact Information
Barbara Kessler
Communications Director
(512) 490-7016
barbara.kessler@tjjd.texas.gov
Public Information Requests
(512) 490-7734
open.records@tjjd.texas.gov