July 2007 in the News
TYC looks to remove officials from Jefferson County site; 7/30/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: The Texas Youth Commission has begun termination proceedings against the top administrators of a Jefferson County facility after staff there used pepper spray while trying to regain control of dozens of unruly juvenile detainees earlier this month. TYC spokesman Jim Hurley said those being replaced include the superintendent, assistant superintendent, security director, business manager, school principal and an assistant principal at TYC's Al Price State Juvenile Correctional Facility. Understaffing was a major factor in the events that led up to the pepper-spraying, said TYC ombudsman Will Harrell, who investigated the incident.
TYC contractors faced closures outside Texas; 7/30/2006
VICTORIA ADVOCATE: Private contractors used by the Texas Youth Commission to house juvenile inmates have lost numerous contracts and had facilities closed in other states following allegations of neglect and physical and sexual abuse, according to a newspaper investigation. The findings indicate additional problems for the troubled TYC, which is already undergoing sweeping reforms in the wake of a sex scandal in its state-run youth prisons and a possible coverup by agency officials. According to a report published Sunday in The Dallas Morning News, companies running private juvenile facilities in Texas have faced lawsuits in other states and had facilities closed after investigators uncovered mismanagement and abuse of juvenile inmates.
Harris County monitor claims TYC failings; 7/30/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: The probation officer responsible for monitoring how Harris County juveniles are treated at Texas Youth Commission facilities said Monday that some youths have been waiting as long as 18 months to get into a sex offender program or have been released without taking part in it. She also said that about a third of Harris County youths who have been prescribed drugs to curb hyperactivity or treat mental illness have not been receiving proper medication at TYC facilities. Susan Moynahan cited her findings Monday in defense of her job as the county's TYC review officer.
Hunt on for juvenile detainee beds; 7/27/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Harris County officials are looking at sending more than 140 juvenile detainees to a Colorado County facility as the Juvenile Probation Department scrambles to absorb hundreds of offenders the Texas Youth Commission no longer will accept. The county could buy or lease an abandoned, but relatively new, juvenile facility in Eagle Lake and have it running in two months, Bill Hawkins, head of the Harris County District Attorney's juvenile division, said at Thursday's county juvenile board meeting. Without additional facilities, the county runs the risk that potentially dangerous youths who formerly were detained in local or TYC lockups will be out on the street, committing more crimes, Hawkins said.
Harris County swamped with young offenders no longer taken by TYC; 7/27/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Harris County is seeking space to detain hundreds more juvenile criminals to make up for the state's decision to stop accepting misdemeanor offenders in the Texas Youth Commission. Bill Hawkins, head of the Harris County District Attorney's juvenile division, said the county needs more detention facilities or it runs the risk of allowing dangerous youths out on the street. "Juvenile recidivism is up," he said during a Thursday meeting of the county juvenile board. "The outcomes are not as good as when the kids were being held longer."
Local Program Gets Statewide Attention; 7/18/2007
TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH: A Tyler program designed to help youth in trouble with the law could become a model for other cities Statewide. The first of its kind, Partners for Youth began with an idea by Tyler Municipal Court Administrator Cam McCabe and has become a reality with the help of several local organizations. Ms. McCabe and others involved with the program, which began six months ago, described how it works and its effects Tuesday at an open house in the city courtroom. Ms. McCabe said she has been working at the municipal court for 15 years and has seen the same kids come through the courtroom over and over again. The program is designed to get children out of the criminal justice system.
TYC denies rights were violated at Evins, asks for two years of monitoring; 7/17/2007
BROWNSVILLE HERALD: Texas Youth Commission leaders are rejecting federal findings that young prisoners’ civil rights were violated at the Edinburg lockup, according to a letter from a state lawyer to the U.S. Department of Justice dated Tuesday. The agency that oversees Evins Regional Juvenile Center is proposing two years of federal monitoring while the facility changes its ways, according to the letter from the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, which represents the TYC. It’s a counter-offer to the four years of monitoring the federal government had proposed. The letter, obtained by The Brownsville Herald, also details changes state leaders have made at TYC in recent months that they think will address grievances the Justice Department had with Evins, as well as problems at the entire 15-prison system.
Texas officials withdraw parole recommendations for 150-plus juveniles over safety concerns; 7/13/2007
SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE: Texas officials canceled parole for more than 150 young offenders after learning that many had served only minimal time for violent crimes, including murder. The revelation outraged state lawmakers, who just this spring approved a massive overhaul of the troubled juvenile system in response to abuse allegations. It also prompted the scandal-plagued Texas Youth Commission to review its parole criteria, officials said Thursday. The commission was already under scrutiny for allegations that inmates had been sexually and physically abused at the West Texas State School in Pyote, and that employees who knew about the problems did nothing to stop them.
Evins namesake meets with lawmakers, new TYC leaders; 7/10/2007
BROWNSVILLE HERALD: The beleaguered Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg is on the road to improvement, Texas Youth Commission recently told lawmakers and the youth prison’s namesake, according to some of those who attended the meeting. On Friday, the top brass from TYC met at the Edinburg youth prison with Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, state Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, and Joe B. Evins, a retired judge who worked to have the facility built in the 1980s. Ed Owens, who is the conservator of TYC, said he requested the meeting after speaking with Evins a couple of weeks earlier. Evins had stopped by the Edinburg youth prison on a whim and was upset with news in recent years of problems there. .
Release of offenders from Texas Youth Commission prisons slow; 7/01/2007
LAREDO MORNING TIMES: More than 500 teenagers serving time in Texas youth prisons for misdemeanor crimes remained incarcerated more than a month after an April deadline for most to be released from the scandal-wracked system. They include five teenagers who should have been released in 2005, according to a Texas Youth Commission internal report that is raising questions about the pace of the releases following sweeping agency reforms enacted by the Legislature. "They should be moving these youths out as quickly as possible," said Rep. Jerry Madden, a Richardson Republican who heads a special joint panel overseeing the troubled agency.