Mistreatment Allegations

by Rachel Crumpler – December 2, 2024

Teenagers in North Carolina’s juvenile justice system are routinely being locked alone in their rooms for as much as 23 to 24 hours a day, according to an ongoing federal lawsuit and advocates for young people in custody, despite state officials’ own acknowledgment of research showing that prolonged isolation causes mental and physical harm…
The lawsuit — originally filed in January in U.S. District Court on behalf of the 16-year-old and two other teenagers held for months in the Cabarrus facility — is seeking class-action status to represent the thousands of youth who go through juvenile detention centers every year. Attorneys argue that the state’s use of isolation violates minors’ federal constitutional rights.
“These children have suffered immense physical, social, and psychological harm from solitary confinement,” the lawsuit states in asking for a court-ordered end to the practice.
The N.C. Department of Public Safety, which runs juvenile detention facilities, has filed a series of responses categorically denying the lawsuit’s claims of any policy or practice of regular solitary confinement for young people. However, the department has acknowledged that staff shortages have affected how much time juveniles spend outside their rooms. Deputy Secretary William Lassiter said in a Nov. 18 filing that “administrative room confinement” unrelated to juvenile behavior has been used — and still is in some instances — to cope with “critical staffing issues”. . .
Juvenile detention centers in NC under scrutiny for use of isolation | NC Health News

September 18, 2024 

Four former staff have been identified in federal civil rights lawsuits, so far two have been criminally charged.
New allegations of staff at the Oregon Youth Authority sexually abusing teens and young adults in custody emerged in a series of federal civil rights lawsuits filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. The latest allegations bring the number of young people who say they were sexually abused while in the care of Oregon’s juvenile detention system from three to six.
Youth convicted of serious crimes before they’re 18 years old serve sentences at Oregon Youth Authority facilities. The agency can incarcerate children as young as 12 and can hold them until they turn 24 years old. Some are later transferred to the state’s prison system. According to the lawsuits, the abuse occurred between 2019 and 2023 at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn and Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany.
https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/18/oregon-juvenile-detention-system-sexual-abuse-federal-civil-rights-lawsuit-youth-authority

An investigation by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department found that officers at a detention center in Dallas kept kids isolated for days and falsified logs of observation checks and school attendance

By Associated Press

September 11, 2024

Officers at a juvenile detention center in Dallas kept kids isolated for days and falsified logs of observation checks and school attendance, an investigation from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department found.
State investigators say that staffers at the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center used the Special Needs Unit to circumvent state law and essentially keep juveniles in their sleeping quarters for extended periods of time.
“They spent the vast majority of their days inside their cells, sometimes up to 24 hours a day, without regular access to education, large muscle exercise, outdoor recreation, or showers,” state investigators wrote in a report released Monday. The full investigation was not made public, though TJJD provided the investigation’s executive summary. The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said that they will continue to monitor the situation.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/texas/articles/2024-09-11/dallas-juvenile-detention-center-isolated-kids-and-falsified-documents-state-investigation-says

Staffers falsified paperwork meant to check up on children detained in county’s Juvenile Department, state inspectors find

By Chase Rogers and Maggie Prosser – Staff Writers 

September 9, 2024

Children in Dallas County’s juvenile detention center were unlawfully secluded for days, circumventing due process and leaving them without access to an education, exercise, outdoor recreation or showers, according to a yearlong investigation into allegations of inhumane treatment and neglect. Detention staff falsified “observation sheets,” or status checks on each child in county detention, according to an executive summary of the investigation obtained by The Dallas Morning News. County leaders said the fake documents likely pointed to a cover-up by Juvenile Department staff to hide mistreatment.
The News obtained an executive summary of the report by the Office of the Inspector General at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department early Monday that showed the county didn’t use best practices for juvenile justice. Michael Griffiths, interim director of the county Juvenile Department, described the findings as “inexcusable.”
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-safety/2024/09/09/children-in-dallas-county-custody-subject-to-unjust-dayslong-seclusion-state-probe-finds

August 11, 2024

Texas Juvenile Justice Department officials said Friday they already were implementing changes that address 40 of the 48 recommendations in a scathing U.S. Justice Department report when it came out a week ago.
The report outlines widespread abuse and civil rights violations at the state’s five secure facilities for youth in the criminal justice system, including the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mart. The report cites specific instances and patterns of violations including sexual abuse of youth inmates by staff members, excessive use of pepper spray, holding of inmates in isolation for extended periods, failure to provide educational accommodations for youth with disabilities and more.
Texas Juvenile Justice Department Executive Director Shandra Carter told the department’s governing board during a meeting Friday that her department is aiming to work in good faith with the DOJ to make improvements.
Texas youth lockup officials respond to recent DOJ report (wacotrib.com)

August 1, 2024

Federal investigators accuse TJJD of engaging in a “pattern of abuse” at its five secure facilities across the state: Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg, Gainesville State School in Gainesville, Giddings State School in Giddings, McClennan <sic> County State Juvenile Correctional Facility (Mart) in Mart, Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood
The DOJ says it inspected all of the sites multiple times, spoke to hundreds of children in custody as well as TTJD staff, and watched hundreds of hours of videos.
Investigators found the state uses excessive force on children, both physical and chemical, such as pepper spray. Youth spend prolonged periods in isolation, posing a serious threat to their mental health and well-being. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) does not adequately protect children from sexual abuse by staff or other children.
“In addition to these horrific conditions, we found that TJJD deprives children of mental health treatment and special education services, which undermines children’s rehabilitation and sets them up to fail, both within the facilities and in the long term,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/doj-investigation-finds-unconstitutional-conditions-at-texas-juvenile-justice-facilities-pattern-of-abuse
TJJD Response: https://www.tjjd.texas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TJJD-Response-to-DOJ-8-1-2024.pdf

July 22, 2024 

PITTSBURGH — Three lawsuits filed Monday in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas allege three western Pennsylvania non-profit juvenile detention facilities failed to protect children from “horrific and serial” sexual abuse.
The lawsuits represent 92 men and women who say they suffered sexual abuse while confined as children at Summit Academy, George Junior Republic and Abraxas Youth & Family Services. the facilities are in Butler, Grove City, Erie and Marienville. They often house children from Allegheny County and surrounding counties.
The claims of sexual abuse cited in the lawsuits range from the year 2000 to 2023.
https://www.wpxi.com/news/investigates/lawsuits-allege-child-sexual-abuse-nearly-100-victims-local-juvenile-detention-centers/3VWMUHEXQJCEBEP3I7S7CYLVNY

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.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/la-county-axes-leadership-juvenile-detention-system-rampant-violence-officer-morale-collapse

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.
https://wpln.org/post/pepper-spray-beatings-and-neglect-dcs-sued-over-treatment-of-kids-in-tennessees-juvenile-justice-facilities/

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.