TEXAS JUVENILE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Spurred by reports of inhumane conditions at Texas Juvenile Justice Department facilities, Austin-area teenagers are lobbying the Legislature to reform the system.

Danger and trauma — not low salaries — are what drive most workers to leave the crisis-wracked Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

Texas agencies say they are being hammered by a historic staffing crisis, particularly when it comes to those in the trenches serving the state’s most vulnerable populations.

Critics say state District Judge Alex Kim is sending too many children to the state’s failing youth prison system. The longtime GOP politician points to a rise in teen gang violence.

Gov. Greg Abbott largely remained silent as dangerous conditions caused by a lack of staff persisted at Texas juvenile facilities during the summer.

Without a jolt of funding, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department will struggle to hire workers and regain control over the safety and treatment of almost 600 incarcerated youth, its acting director told lawmakers at a hearing.

On this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Jolie about the problems within the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and with Eleanor about the state’s efforts to expand postnatal Medicaid.

The state of Texas has essentially controlled her son’s life since he was 11. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department was supposed to keep him safe and help him get better. It has failed at every turn.

The agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.

Texas’ juvenile prison system is nearing total collapse. Nearly half of those locked in the state’s juvenile prisons this year have been on suicide watch. This year, 45% of those held in Texas’ juvenile lockups have been on suicide watch, a percentage that has steadily grown over several years. Texas’ youth prisons couldn’t take any more children, Carter said, because the state agency wouldn’t be able to guarantee their safety. His vision doesn’t go as far as that of juvenile justice advocates, who have pushed to close all state-run youth prisons within 10 years.

The agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.

Visits to Texas’ severely understaffed youth prisons show suicide attempts without intervention, water bottles being used as makeshift toilets, and a rash of possibly gang-related fights.

Texas’ juvenile prison system is giving employees pay raises to address high staff turnover and staffing shortages that earlier this week prompted officials to stop accepting new children into its facilities.

Shandra Carter, head of Texas’ juvenile justice agency, warned continued intake “will lead to an inability to even provide basic supervision for youth locked in their rooms."

In an email last week, interim director Shandra Carter described the move as having "no other option."

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department doesn’t have enough staff to keep minors safe or deal with increasing suicidal behavior, its interim head says. Gov. Greg Abbott recently shifted millions of dollars from the long-troubled agency to his controversial border security mission.

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department fired an Edinburg juvenile detention center employee on Monday and initiated termination procedures for another after both men were arrested this week and charged with using excessive force against a teenager. The agency said it fired 24-year-old Edinburg resident Luis Alexander Jesus for cause and has suspended 28-year-old McAllen resident Christopher Cuadra without pay with plans to fire him. In a statement, TJJD interim executive director Sandra Carter said the agency does not condone the alleged actions of Jesus and Cuadra. “Our agency does not condone any violent behavior toward the youth in our care. Jesus then spat on the teen, according to authorities.

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department on Wednesday arrested two jailers on charges of official oppression and tampering with a government record.

Sunset Advisory commission met to discuss the fate of the system that the interim director said was "collapsing."

The request comes after Gov. Greg Abbott announced last month that Texas would divert about $500 million from state agencies to fund the controversial border mission.

The federal government opened an investigation Wednesday into Texas’ long-troubled juvenile lockups, which currently detain nearly 700 teens who often are found to need heightened supervision or have committed violent crimes.

The probe comes after local activists and media cited reports that staff members had physically and sexually abused youths in the state-run lockups.

The department says it’s looking into whether the Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides “reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”

The department says it’s looking into whether the Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides “reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”

The department says it’s looking into whether the Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides “reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”

The Justice Department announced today that it has opened a statewide investigation into the conditions in the five secure juvenile correctional facilities run by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. “Too often children held in juvenile detention facilities are subject to abuse and mistreatment, and deprived of their constitutional rights,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The investigation will be conducted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Both statutes give the department the authority to investigate systemic violations of the rights of young people in juvenile correctional facilities. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division’s work regarding juvenile correctional facilities and the administration of juvenile justice is available on its website at https://www.justice.gov/crt/rights-juveniles.

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department has arrested a youth development coach at the Evins Regional Juvenile Detention Center on accusations he let four offenders assault a 16-year old being held there.

A youth development coach at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg was arrested Tuesday for improper sexual activity with a person in custody and indecency with a child. Todd Hanks, 50, has been with the agency since 2005, a release from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department said. This evening, he was arrested and booked into the Hidalgo County Jail.”According to the release, TJJD followed the Prison Rape Elimination Act guidelines and the victim received medical and clinical attention, notifying his family. “This agency has zero tolerance for any employee who preys upon or endangers the youth in our care, and we will always respond swiftly to such allegations. I am heartbroken for the youth, and we are doing everything we can to provide proper treatment and care.”

Erik Robinson, 16, escaped custody at Dell Children's in Austin Monday evening, the Texas Juvenile Justice Dept. said.

Children in Texas’ youth lockups are suffering from widespread sexual assault and other constitutional violations, reform advocates wrote Wednesday in a complaint urging a federal investigation into the state’s five youth lockups. “The state facilities are not just failing the youth in them, they are hurting them,” said Brett Merfish, director of youth justice at Texas Appleseed. As TJJD has encouraged more reliance on county facilities and reduced the number of state youth lockups from 12 in 2007 to five today, there has been a sustained drop in juveniles detained in state lockups. “Mental health is key to youth rehabilitation,” said Beth Mitchell, a top attorney at Disability Rights Texas. The plan requests more funding for county facilities and proposes more state facilities closer to urban centers to address staffing shortfalls.

HOUSTON A 37-year-old woman who worked as a youth development coach at a Texas juvenile correctional facility is accused of having sex with a person in her care, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department announced Monday in a statement. A statement from TJJD says Andrea Banks was suspended and then fired after allegations surfaced on July 14 at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood. Banks, who has worked for the TJJD since 2011, was arrested Monday and booked into the Brown County Jail. Camille Cain, the Executive Director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, issued a statement that read, in part, Without exception, any employee who betrays their oath to protect our youth and commits a criminal act will face the highest penalties allowed under the law. TJJD has zero tolerance for such behavior, and I encourage anyone who suspects abuse, neglect, or criminal activity to report it immediately.

TJJD/Bob DaemmrichAfter 17 young people tested positive for the coronavirus inside Texas state-run juvenile lockups, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department said Wednesday it will test all detainees and staff. Only two employees tested positive in April and May, according to agency news releases. But last month, 28 more employees and the 17 detainees also tested positive for the virus at four of the states juvenile lockups. The youth were all being treated at the lockups, TJJD said in a Tuesday news release. Sean Wilson, 43, worked at the Giddings State School and died on June 28 after testing positive for the virus the week before.