The DOJ found that officers overused pepper spray, kept youths in prolonged isolation and failed to protect them from sexual abuse.
Giddings State School, a juvenile correctional facility managed by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department , on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, in Giddings.We’re testing using AI-powered tools to provide an audio version of this story. While this audio recording is machine-generated, the story was written by human journalists.The U.S.
The agency routinely denies disabled children “reasonable modifications” they need to successfully complete their incarceration. Instead, the report said, children are expelled from programming due to behavioral issues related to their disabilities and required to repeat it — extending their time in custody or leading to their transfer to an adult prison.
“Children in TJJD’s secure facilities are exposed to conditions that cause serious and lasting physical, mental and emotional harm.
The agency added that it has “made several recent significant improvements,” including boosting the ranks of its officers by raising salaries by 15% in 2022 and another 5% in 2023 as approved by the Texas Legislature, hiring more mental health professionals, improving staff training and adding a “holistic rehabilitative program.”
In 2007, the Justice Department found that the agency failed to keep children safe from violence in the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg. Four years later, after reports of sexual abuse and operational problems across the system, the state Legislature combined the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission to create the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
The report outlined a number of “recommended minimum remedial measures,” including requiring non-force interventions be used whenever possible, eliminating the use of pepper spray in canisters designed for large crowd management and limiting periods of isolation.
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