Plan to close TYC gathers support

[sonias]

AAS 4/05/08
Plan to close TYC gathers support
Whitmire says juvenile justice needs 'clean start'

A fledgling plan to close or drastically restructure the troubled Texas Youth Commission drew widespread initial support on Friday, as new details emerged about what Texas' new juvenile justice system would look like.

It might piggyback some programs with the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, which funds county-based treatment programs for youths on probation. And it would not include any unfunded mandates for counties, according to several people involved in the ongoing talks at the Capitol.

But, in a shift of sentiment from when officials first confirmed the plan, state Sen. John Whitmire said abolition of the troubled Youth Commission is appearing to make more sense than restructuring. Whitmire co-chairs a special legislative committee overseeing Youth Commission reforms, since the agency was placed in receivership a year ago amid a sexual-abuse and cover-up scandal.

Grits for Breakfast has more on the abuses that occur with juvie jail systems:

Grits for Breakfast blogn 4/5/08

Not just Texas: CNN finds punishment culture prevalent at juvie lockups nationwide

Reacting to a report that Ohio must pour tens of millions into juvenile detention centers as a result of federal litigation, CNN on Friday presented an excellent, extended feature on sexual and physical abuse at juvenile lockups, citing incidents in Texas but also many other states. I'd encourage everyone interested in juvie justice to read it.

The news from other states suggests that Texas' problems aren't unique, but also that we've got a long way to go to reach the minimum standards feds are requiring elsewhere.

In Ohio, reported AP, ordered changes resulted from a 2004 lawsuit where the state did not comply with settlement terms, so they're just a little ways down the line from where Texas is now with its federal litigation. The feds sued over TYC's Evins unit, but the federal district judge in the case recently refused to accept the settlement, declaring it had no teeth. The US Department of Justice has sued over abuse at juvie facilities in Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

"In addition to overcrowding and excessive force," said AP, "a report found that guards regularly place children in solitary confinement for inappropriately long periods of time, a practice that "is unconstitutional on its face" and should cease immediately." TYC's Ombudsman has complained about the identical practice in Texas, so here's more evidence the tactic may not pass constitutional muster.

Yea to a moratorium on jailing children. Free the kids! Yes, they need some punishment, but a more structured environment that will teach them job skills and coping skills is a better investment that putting them in jails where they get abused and become more hardened criminals.

Sonia