Top officials with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department told state lawmakers Monday that the alleged rampant abuse within the agency’s facilities were due to low staffing levels and aren’t reflective of the department’s current climate.
It’s the second time this month TJJD leaders have pushed back on the findings contained in a Department of Justice report that found widespread instances of physical and mental abuse, along with violations of children’s civil and constitutional rights. The officials made the same claims about staffing issues largely being the culprit during a TJJD board meeting August 9.
But state representatives on Monday’s panel didn’t seem swayed by that argument.
“I certainly think [the report] accurately depicted major issues we were having at the time of the investigation. The staffing levels that we had were so critical,” Shandra Carter, the executive director of TJJD, told the Texas House Committee on Juvenile Justice and Family Issues. “I was it is very difficult to provide the level of service and rehabilitation that we want and are currently doing much better at now.”
Democrats on the committee acknowledged the agency contended with staffing shortages and battled through the COVID-19 pandemic like other state agencies. But they expressed alarm that the Justice Department report outlined inherent problems within the agency that have been at issue for decades instead of years.
“I'm just torn that we're in the same place. And you all will come in and tell us that, ‘Things are going to be okay now. We got something different. We got new employees, we got this and that,’ and I'm not so sure,” said state Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, the chair of the committee. “I don't want to sit here and have another investigation, and somebody come and tell us these children are still being abused in the facility. Children still don't have a way out.”
Among other things, the report said some staffers at five of the agency’s correctional facilities used excessive physical force, including relying on chemical spray, before attempts at de-escalation. It also charged that some youths were in solitary confinement for longer than necessary and that TJJD ushered in “a pervasive atmosphere of sexual abuse, grooming, and lack of staff accountability and training.”
State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, tipped his hat to agency staff that he said had the right intentions. But the system, he added, makes progress an impossible feat.
“I think there are good people who work in these facilities. I've met them. We met them,” he said, referring to site visits some lawmakers have made. “The problem is not that. The problem is the model. The problem is putting kids in prisons. It's never going to work. It's kind of a deep moral intuition, I think, that we all have – that children don't belong in prisons.”
In response to a question from state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, about the excessive use of chemical spray, Carter said the staffing shortages – coupled with the high-stress environment – contributed to some employees using poor judgment.
“I did not have security backup. I had staff who were working 12-hour shifts, five days in a row,” Carter said. “You're not at peak decision making – or your ability to de-escalate youth gets compromised – when you can't take care of your own basic needs.”
“If I hear you correctly, you're saying that staff was overworked, they got frustrated and they started spraying down kids,” Wu responded.
That was followed by a similar exchange over the report’s allegations about sexual abuse.
“What does understaffing have to do with the prevalence of sexual assaults?” Wu asked.
“Staffing is about supervision. The more people I have available, the more eyes there are on a youth,” Carter said. “When I have one staff alone with youth, and there's not a team available – there's not a case manager on the floor, there's not an extra staff coming in – those that are predatory don't have the level of supervision.”
Despite skepticism from lawmakers, Carter said the department is in a different place, adding that the agency is working on recommendations set forth by Department of Justice officials.
When the report was released earlier this month, the Department of Justice gave TJJD officials seven weeks to address the issues it raised or face possible litigation.
Carter told the TJJD board earlier this month that, out of the 48 recommendations the DOJ provided, 40 have been completed or are being reviewed.
Sean Grove, TJJD’s deputy executive director, said the agency already has some policies in place that meet up to those standards.
“When we're talking about protection from harm, the majority of the recommendations there are making sure that we have a policy and training in place that do certain things, and that is what our policy and training is exactly doing,” he said.
But Grove also conceded the agency still sees a lawsuit in its future.
“We do anticipate litigation at some point,” he said.
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