November 2007
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: After months of blistering criticism and litigation, Texas Youth Commission officials have agreed to restrict the use of pepper spray on unruly youths. But the fix could be short-lived because the agency is proposing a new policy that juvenile justice experts said Thursday would again liberalize the use of pepper spray. Among the problems with the proposed rule, they say: It drops wording that specifically prohibits the use of pepper spray for "convenience" of staff in controlling unruly youths and approves the use of crowd-sized canisters of pepper spray, instead of the much smaller ones mainly used in the past.
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Incarcerated teenagers in the Texas Youth Commission system are getting pepper-sprayed by guards when they refuse to follow routine orders and while on suicide watch, not just when they pose a threat, a Travis County court was told Monday. The testimony by national corrections expert Steve Martin, who based his account on a review of Youth Commission records, provided the first public detail about what critics say is an escalation in the use of chemical restraints inside state-run youth lockups.
Suit says TYC breaks pepper-spray rules; 11/19/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Texas Youth Commission staffers continue to use pepper spray against inmates for offenses no more serious than speaking out of turn or refusing to follow rules, two Texas advocacy groups argued in court Monday. Attorneys for Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. have accused the agency of violating its own guidelines by allowing staff members to use pepper spray on inmates in "passive-resistance situations" when they pose no serious threat to anyone.
TYC adrift; 11/18/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Revelations of the abuse of teenagers at an isolated Texas Youth Commission facility in West Texas last February led to the shake-up of the state agency and the forced resignation of its leadership and board. During the legislative session lawmakers passed a bill mandating the appointment of a commissioner and a temporary advisory board to be eventually replaced by a seven-member governing board.
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS: Just playing the St. Anthony Yellow Jackets — a team from a San Antonio Catholic high school — let alone losing to them, was considered a privilege by the Giddings Indians, a team of youths from Giddings State School, a maximum restriction facility about 55 miles east of Austin.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Top executives of the Texas Youth Commission awarded a no-bid contract to a former state official with a slim record in juvenile justice but a long history of controversial business dealings with public agencies. Gregg Phillips, a former top deputy with the state Health and Human Services Commission, began working this spring to overhaul TYC's inmate classification system after his lobbyist contacted the agency's conservator, Jay Kimbrough.
Task force calls for youth commission reforms; 11/13/2007
DAILY TEXAN: Members of a task force convened to evaluate the flailing Texas Youth Commission's correctional facilities said on Monday that the organization must implement further reforms to properly rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. Despite lauded efforts to fix the scandal-plagued commission, grim conditions continue to be reported in state-run facilities.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS: The Texas Youth Commission's multi-pronged mission includes instilling discipline and accountability in its juvenile inmates, along with a healthy dose of rehabilitation and societal re-entry. In short, we expect the TYC to take juvenile lawbreakers and send back as many functioning, productive citizens as possible. As you have read in The Dallas Morning News and elsewhere, it's not going so well. The TYC's inability to keep its own staff in line has been well chronicled, with special emphasis on the sexual and physical abuse of kids in custody. And last Sunday, we learned that TYC is failing miserably at educating them, too.
Grant to help county juveniles; 11/10/2007
MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURIER: Assertive Community Care is an approach to helping children address their problems with the support of their parents, as well as an effort to deter siblings from engaging in similar behaviors. Sam Houston State University recently received a $297,959 grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Association, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to begin experimenting with the program and evaluate its effectiveness for Montgomery County juveniles.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Schoolwork in solitary confinement was a crossword puzzle or math problems on a single piece of paper. One mentally retarded inmate, who read at a second-grade level, still got a high school diploma. Inmates at different grade levels found themselves in the same classroom. Some were left to teach themselves with a computer software program. Others weren't even enrolled in a class.
Short of years, but long in lockup; 11/01/2007
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Some of the youngest offenders at the Texas Youth Commission aren't old enough to attend middle school, but their tender age doesn't win them shorter stints behind bars. A review of TYC records for the past three years showed that the vast majority of felons arriving between ages 10 and 13 have served, on average, 34 months — a year and three months longer than those who arrived between ages 14 and 17. Offenders who came in at age 10 served an average of five years, nearly three years more than those who came in at age 16, according to the Houston Chronicle's review.