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January 2008 in the News
 
DALLAS MORNING NEWS: the Texas Youth Commission’s new conservator said Friday he will address the use of pepper spray in juvenile prisons within two weeks – and he’s looking to a panel of experts sidelined by the agency’s acting executive director for guidance. Rickard Nedelkoff, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry late last month, wouldn’t reveal his opinion on whether there’s a place for pepper spray in youth lock-ups.
 
 
 

DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Anyone who depends on higher-ups to approve funding for an annual budget knows the drill: Whatever they give you this year, spend it; if not, they might think you don't need as much next year. In a nutshell, that's how top officials at the Texas Youth Commission – yes, that Texas Youth Commission – found themselves in the soup again.

 
 
 

LUFKIN DAILY NEWS: Thumbing your nose at the Texas Legislature is not the best way to get funding for your state agency. We wouldn't recommend it for, say, the Lufkin State School or the Texas State Railroad, or any other state-level governmental agency in East Texas. We would not have recommended it to the Texas Youth Commission, either, but it's too late to provide that advice now.

 
 
 
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: On the same day last November that the Chronicle published an editorial calling for speedy rebuilding of the scandal-scarred Texas Youth Commission, the agency ombudsman sent an alarming memo to TYC acting director Dimitria Pope. A year after revelations of sexual abuse of inmates by reform school guards and wardens led to ouster of the TYC board and management, it seems the agency is slipping back into its bad habits.
 
 
 
DALLAS MORNING NEWS: High-ranking Texas Youth commission officials have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for hiring new corrections officers on renovating and relocating offices – even though lawmakers turned down their request for such spending. The TYC’s acting executive director, Dimitria Pope, said the expenditures on furniture, renovations and telecommunications equipment, which total $550,000, were necessary to restructure the office, accommodate dozens of new employees, and improve operations in the aftermath of last year’s prison abuse scandal.
 
 
 
CALLER-TIMES: The Texas Youth Commission, the state's corrective system for juveniles, still continues to lurch and stumble in its recovery from the scandal that wracked it last summer. The system came under glaring scrutiny when it was discovered that youths under its care were being abused by staff and, worse, that the abuses had been ongoing for some time, covered up by bureaucratic inertia and callousness.
 
 

Texas Youth Commission official Billy Humphrey forced to resign; 01/11/2008 

 

DALLAS MORNING NEWS: A senior Texas Youth Commission executive involved in the agency's controversial effort to expand the use of pepper spray and solitary confinement was forced to resign Thursday.  The departure of Billy Humphrey, a top lieutenant of acting TYC executive director Dimitria Pope, was initiated by the ageny conservator appointed in December by Gov. Rick Perry. The conservator, Richard Nedelkoff, met with Mr. Humphrey on Wednesday, said agency spokesman Jim Hurley.

 

 

Hegar named to Sunset Commission; 01/10/2008 

 

BRENHAM BANNER PRESS: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has appointed state Sen. Glenn Hegar vice chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission. Hegar’s appointment made Texas history, marking the first time that a freshman member of the Texas Legislature has been appointed to a leadership position of the Sunset Advisory Commission.   Hegar is a resident of Katy, and his district includes Washington County.

 

 

New TYC conservator says his company won't bid for state jobs; 01/09/2008

 

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: The Texas Youth Commission's new conservator said the nonprofit he manages has withdrawn from bidding for an agency contract and won't seek state business while he's in office. Richard Nedelkoff, whom Gov. Rick Perry appointed in December to head the troubled state juvenile prison system, said he wouldn't want the involvement of Eckerd Youth Alternatives to raise questions about a conflict of interest.