Rangers ordered to probe youth lockups
Abbott’s surprise move calls for swift work to ensure safety at troubled institutions
AUSTIN — In a surprise move, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday dispatched the Texas Rangers to conduct a “detailed investigation” into growing allegations of sexual misconduct and assaults in state-run lockups for teenage lawbreakers.
Top state officials quickly confirmed the inquiry is a likely prelude to significant reforms the governor wants enacted in the agency that incarcerates 1,000 youth offenders. Those moves could cut the number of youths who are behind bars at state facilities in half and increase Texas’ reliance on community-based programs to lower the number of youths who end up in state prisons.
In a one-page letter, Abbott directed Steve Craw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, to send elite Rangers into the five-unit state system to investigate and “ensure that these acts are dealt with swiftly and to the fullest extent of the law.” He said “additional action is needed to guarantee the protection of the youth in the care and custody of the State of Texas.”
Officials said Rangers were being sent immediately to the state’s five youth lockups to begin interviewing staff and youths about the ongoing problems.
One guard was recently convicted, and three other employees were recently arrested for allegedly having sexual relationships with youths at the Gainesville State School, and officials have confirmed investigations are underway over similar allegations in at least one other lockup.
Wednesday’s move marked the first time state police have been sent into the lockups since 2007, when a scandal exploded over sex
abuse and an official coverup sparked top-to-bottom reforms in the state’s youth corrections system.
In recent months the Houston Chronicle and other media outlets have detailed the new allegations of sexual misconduct in the state’s lockups and how assaults and staff shortages have deteriorated conditions inside the sites. In his letter, Abbott called the allegations of abuse “reprehensible.”
Officials at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and legislative leaders applauded Abbott’s directive.
“Governor Abbott’s letter to Col. McCraw reflects a strong commitment to the safety and well-being of the youth in TJJD’s care,” Carolyn Beck, the agency’s director of external relations, said in a statement. “We welcome and share that commitment. Both the youth, and our dedicated staff members, deserve protections at every step. We appreciate added law enforcement support and involvement and look forward to working with the Rangers.”
Setting top priorities
David Reilly, the agency’s executive director who is retiring in a few weeks, acknowledged to the Senate Finance Committee last week that high staff turnover has left his department unable to properly supervise the youths. Senators at a public hearing blasted his assessment and demanded immediate action to curb the violence and sexual misconduct.
On Tuesday, the agency’s governing board hired Camille Cain, Abbott’s criminal justice director, as the new executive director — a move that was widely seen as a first step towards a shake-up of operations.
At the time, top aides said Abbott was unhappy that faster actions had not been taken to stop the problems.
In a letter delivered to Cain on Wednesday, Abbott directed her to ensure the safety of incarcerated youths as a first priority. He also recommended that Cain should begin work to reduce the population of the state’s juvenile lockups downward from the current 1,000 to a more manageable number.
Agency officials have said that as many as 500 of the 1,000 could be better housed in community-based programs rather than a remotely located state facility. Doing so would allow the lockups, which have been plagues by staffing shortages for years, to better supervise the remaining confines, according to officials.
As a result of the 2007 reforms, the state reduced the population from 5,000 to 1,000 and shuttered more than half of the state-run lockups.
In addition, state leaders are said to be looking at reducing the population even more by transferring troublemakers who pose security risks and commit assaults to a more-secure lockup, especially those with determinate sentences who are not sent to do time for open-ended terms until they successfully complete treatment programs.
Recent statistics show that a majority of the youths in the lockups are 17 and 18 years of age, most doing time for violent crimes such as aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault.
The state lockups have been plagued for years with violence, gang activity, staffing shortages and lack of programming that has been blamed for a high recidivism rate, especially after the 2007 reforms removed the low-level, nonviolent offenders from the state lockups.
‘Environment of fear’
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who has been critical of the agency’s lack of supervision and violence at its lockups, applauded Abbott’s decision.
“It’s exactly the type of intervention we need to get control of these facilities,” he said. “They are being run by the bullies and the gangs, and the employees are working in an environment of fear.”
As a result of the continuing problems, four Texas civil rights and youth-justice reform groups called in late November for state officials to close all remaining juvenile-justice lockups and replace them with community-based treatment and rehabilitation centers — a plan that was recommended in 2007 but never fully implemented, partly because of the cost and partly because of political opposition to job losses in the rural areas where the lockups are located.
The remaining lockups are in Gainesville, north of Dallas; Brownwood in West Texas; Mart near Waco; Giddings northwest of Houston; and Edinburg in South Texas.
As the controversy over the recent arrests and assaults has grown in recent days, top state officials have indicated a willingness to examine further consolidations and program changes to improve security and safety for youths and employees, who have the highest on-the-job injury rate in state government. Many are reported to be afraid to come to work and reportedly let some youths alone to avoid violent confrontations inside the lockups.