5-19-2010 Indiana:
Report finds former Indy facility failed to protect offenders from harm
A U.S. Justice Department investigation uncovered new details about the scope of problems at a former state juvenile center in Indianapolis, including "a rampant sexual environment" and unnecessary strip searches.
Those are among problems that Indiana prison officials say they have worked to address since the federal investigation began in early 2008. The most drastic action came in November, when they closed the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility and moved about 100 girls to a new center in Madison, along the Ohio River, with a largely new staff and a more modern facility.
But, in a 47-page letter sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels Jan. 29, and which was first reported by the media this week, the Justice Department painted a stark picture of what went on behind the previous facility's walls.
The investigation concluded that the Indianapolis facility failed to protect the girls living there from harm or provide adequate mental health care and special education services.
The letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez of the Civil Rights Division, cites safety concerns including staff sexual abuse and misconduct, a failure to conduct adequate investigations into reported incidents, inadequate numbers of women on staff, excessive use of isolation, a lackluster grievance system and even inadequate access to toilets.
The letter recounts an incident in which five male staff members took a 17-year-old girl with serious mental illness from her cell, shackled her limbs and forcefully cut off her clothes to strip-search her for contraband.If they know who these male staff members are, have they yet been prosecuted for a sex crime? Maybe some time on the registry will teach them a lesson.
But they didn't have a sufficient basis for suspicion, the letter says, and the search clearly violated the law and professional standards.
The Indiana Department of Correction says the facility the Justice Department's consultants examined two years ago was very different from the one that now houses about 100 girls in Southern Indiana.
"We've taken a lot of steps to deal with a very difficult population," spokesman Doug Garrison said Tuesday.
The DOC's Division of Youth Services has worked with federal officials, the Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force and other organizations on wide-scale reform of its facilities' practices in recent years. That includes shifting from a traditional prison model to one the DOC calls a "therapeutic community environment."
Conditions at several of Indiana's state juvenile correctional facilities have been scrutinized by the Justice Department over the past six years. An investigation looking at a maximum-security lockup for boys, the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, is still under way.
The Pendleton and former Indianapolis facilities drew scrutiny in January when a separate Justice Department study listed them among 13 juvenile detention facilities nationally with the highest rates of sexual victimization reported by residents.
At Pendleton, 36 percent reported activity including nonconsensual sex acts with another youth or sex acts with facility staff within the previous year; at Indianapolis, the DOC's only facility housing girls, the rate was nearly 23 percent, about twice the national average.
If Indiana officials do not respond to the Justice Department's concerns, the January letter to Daniels says, officials could bring a lawsuit to force changes.
But the DOC says it is still working to improve conditions and safety at its facilities. Bill Glick, the Juvenile Justice Task Force's executive director, told The Star in January that the reforms are on the right track.
Since the release of the sexual victimization study, the DOC says, it has interviewed all juvenile offenders at the Madison and Pendleton facilities. Its study found reported rates of victimization less than one-third of those in the federal study. ..Source..
May 19, 2010
Feds cite sex abuse at juvenile girls center
January 7, 2010
Survey: More than 1 in 10 youth inmates say they were sexually abused
1-7-2010 National:
Washington (CNN) -- More than one in 10 juvenile detainees in major U.S. facilities say they experienced some form of sexual abuse or sexual victimization while in detention, according to a report Thursday by the Department of Justice.
The report's major finding is only an estimate, due to the inability to verify the information collected through questionnaires. Still, the estimated 12 percent of more than 26,000 detained juveniles reporting sexual victimization by other detainees or staff members brought a pledge of steps to address the issue.
The findings "bring into focus the dire circumstances that too many youth in juvenile correctional facilities have to endure," said a Justice Department statement issued with the report.
"While the report focuses on specific types of juvenile facilities -- larger facilities that typically hold adjudicated youth for longer periods -- the Department of Justice is committed to addressing confinement issues for all youth in all facilities," the statement said.
The Review Panel on Prison Rape -- part of the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs -- will hold hearings on the report as part of a broader effort to reduce prison rape, according to the statement.
In addition, the department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is seeking funding for a National Training and Technical Assistance Center to improve conditions and treatment services for detained youths, the statement said.
Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a working group under the Prison Rape Elimination Act to review standards proposed by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission and draft national standards for detecting and preventing prison rape, the statement said.
According to the report, juvenile detainees filled in computer questionnaires about sexual victimization in their facilities. A total of 9,198 respondents out of 26,551 youths held in 195 major public and private facilities nationwide participated in the voluntary survey conducted from June 2008 to April 2009, it said.
Because the survey collected allegations from anonymous participants with no follow-up investigation or substantiation through review, "some allegations ... may be untrue," the report said.
The results showed 1,199 youths reporting "one or more incidents of sexual victimization," the report said. That figure was then extrapolated for the entire survey population to produce the estimate of 3,220 detained youths experiencing sexual victimization, or 12.1 percent of the 26,551 total, according to the report.
Other estimated findings of the survey included:• More than 10 percent of detained youths reported a sexual victimization incident involving staff members, while less than 3 percent reported incidents involving other youths.
• About 95 percent of all youth reporting staff sexual misconduct said they had been victimized by female staff. In 2008, 42 percent of staff in state juvenile facilities were female.
• Thirteen facilities were identified as "high rate," with an estimate of at least 20 percent of their population reporting sexual victimization. For some, the estimate exceeded 30 percent.
• Among youth victimized by another youth, an estimated 20 percent said they had been physically injured and 5 percent reported they sought medical attention for their injuries. Among youth victimized by staff, 5 percent reported a physical injury and less than 1 percent sought medical attention.
..Source.. CNN
Feds: Sex Abuse High At L.E. Rader Center In Sand Springs
1-7-2010 National:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal officials say 13 juvenile detention facilities around the country have high rates of sex abuse and victimization, where nearly 1 out of every 3 inmates reported some type of victimization.
The list includes the L.E. Rader Center just west of Sand Springs.
A Justice Department study has found that nationwide, about 12% of youths held in state and local facilities reported some type of sexual victimization -- but those rates varied widely from place to place. Six sites had reported victimization rates of 30% or higher.
About 10% of reported incidents involved staff, and nearly all of those complaints were against female staffers. The figures are based on surveys.
Read the DOJ study report: Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-2009 ..Source.. AP
Rader Center to cut staff, available units
1-7-2010 Oklahoma:
SAND SPRINGS — The Office of Juvenile Affairs will begin closing units at its maximum security facility, cutting the number of staff needed at the L.E. Rader Center.
Gene Christian, the agency’s executive director, met Tuesday with staff at the Rader Center in Sand Springs to inform employees of the changes. He said the number of juvenile offenders at Rader will shrink from 106 to 66 by July.
All state agencies are working with reduced funding while the state’s revenue collections are hard hit in the slumping economy. All agencies have seen their monthly allocations cut by 10 percent in December and January. The budget cuts are expected to continue into the next budget year, which begins in July.
To deal with the cuts to the agency, some cottages that house juvenile offenders at the Rader Center are being shuttered. The cottages are in need of repair, Christian said, and the department does not have enough money to make the repairs,. The Sand Springs facility will keep its maximum security beds and a unit that houses sex offenders at Rader. The rest of the juveniles will be sent to facilities in Manitou and Tecumseh.
That means less staff will be needed to care for youth at Rader. That includes employees who work directly with the juveniles, teachers and food service employees, he said.
The agency plans to cut staff initially by not filling vacant positions and cutting contracts between now and July. Agency employees could be offered a voluntary buyout plan before layoffs, if necessary, begin in July, Christian said. OJA already has offered a buyout and is furloughing employees to cope with budget cuts.
"Money is the remedy and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any more coming,” he said. "We’re taking to heart the Legislature’s recommendation to make changes to the agency. OJA will not look the same in five years as it looks today.”
So far, the agency has absorbed $7.5 million in cuts. Additional cuts are expected next year, Christian said. The agency’s other sources of revenues also have decreased. Parents of children in custody are required to pay child support, and those collections are half as much as they were last year at this time, he said.
While all state agencies are struggling to absorb the budget cuts, agency officials and lawmakers should look at the whole picture, said Scott Barger, deputy director of the Oklahoma Employees Association.
"There’s a great need to modernize state government,” he said. "But we don’t think agencies should be overzealous. They should wait and see what the Legislature does. Reducing the beds at the juvenile level may mean that people aren’t rehabilitated and end in the Department of Corrections, costing us more in the long run.” ..Source.. JULIE BISBEE The Oklahoman
