Youth lockups a ‘powder keg,’ lawmaker says

Violence could lead to closures at state centers

AUSTIN — Amid a growing scandal over sex assaults and lax security at Texas’ five state-run youth detention centers, angry senators Tuesday demanded immediate action to curb violence and restore order at the troubled facilities.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee hinted strongly they will look favorably at a proposal to shutter the state’s secure juvenile lockups completely in favor of community-based treatment and rehabilitation centers, in what would be a historic shift away from campuses that once functioned like training schools for low-level delinquents.

Others suggested during the tense public hearing that state officials should immediately dispatch Texas Rangers to the juvenile correctional facilities to interview confined youths and the staff to determine the statewide extent of the problems that have been documented for weeks by the Houston Chronicle and other media.

“We’re sitting on a powder keg here that’s going to blow up,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who was an architect of sweeping reforms 10 years after a similar scandal that remade the agency from top to bottom.

“Employees are afraid to go to work, afraid the youths will kick their butt. There’s the sex scandals between youths, and staff and youths. There’s assaults and gang activity that make it clear these facilities are not under control.”

High turnover rates

David Reilly, executive director at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, acknowledged in testimony that the agency is short-staffed and cannot properly supervise youths. Its turnover rate is about 40 percent this year, with a turnover rate of 51 percent at the Gainesville State School where sex-abuse cases have resulted in several arrests.

“The staff presence to manage these kids is not here,” he said at one point, noting that his agency has likely the highest turnover rate among all state agencies. “Never alone is just not possible … Our staff presence is insufficient.”

At the urging of state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, Whitmire said he intends to come up with an action plan to address the concerns.

“We have to do whatever it takes, whatever the cost, to get control of these facilities and make sure the youth and staff are safe,” Whitmire said. “This should be our No. 1 priority.”

Among the options: Possibly downsizing the number of incarcerated youths from 1,000, first by removing about 250 youths that Reilly said “can be better served in a less-confined environment” and then by moving to local programs another 250 or so youths who are serving time for lesser charges.

Whitmire said most of the youths at several lockups are 18, serving time for serious felonies such as murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated sex crimes.

‘Sounding the alarm’

Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said the state needs to get control of the lockups.

“If you don’t get control of this population, you will never be able to turn their lives around,” she said.

Many of the issues that surfaced during Tuesday’s hearing were similar to those that prompted the sweeping reforms in 2007, including sexual assaults, gang activity, lax supervision because of high staff turnover, and official insistence that there was little that could be done without additional state resources.

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, a McAllen Democrat who was key in the 2007 reforms, said the continuing problems after 10 years of changes suggest the state “should do away with the system we have in place.” The state should send back to local treatment and rehabilitation programs all youths “except for the worst of the worst,” he said. Whitmire agreed. “It feels like we’re back where we were in 2007,” he said. “I’m sounding the alarm. I think this should be shocking to the people of Texas.”