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Pious Perverts See other Pious Perverts Articles Title: TYC's rapid expansion called 'formula for chaos' (BUSH RESPONSIBLE FOR TEXAS SCANDAL) TYC's rapid expansion called 'formula for chaos' Web Posted: 03/10/2007 11:24 PM CST R.G. Ratcliffe AUSTIN — The roots of the current crisis at the Texas Youth Commission go back a dozen years to a campaign commercial that featured a threatening handgun and a somber-voiced announcer telling Texans that "violent juvenile crime is up." Getting tough on juvenile crime was one of the cornerstones of the campaign that elected George W. Bush governor in 1994, and he fulfilled that promise by almost tripling the size of the state's youth corrections system. "The bottom line is young people need to understand there will be severe consequences for bad behavior," Bush said in the ad. The rapid buildup of Texas Youth Commission facilities that fulfilled Bush's promise increased the number of youthful offenders in state-run facilities from 1,800 when he became governor in 1995 to more than 4,550 by the time he was sworn in as president in 2001. Legislators and youth advocates say the expansion overtaxed the TYC bureaucracy, aggravated problems staffing its facilities and set up a breakdown that occurred after it was hit with major budget cuts in 2003. "The agency probably grew too fast based on Gov. Bush's commitments of being more proactive in the enforcement of youth," said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. The TYC administration and board were inadequate to handle expansion problems. The remote locations of many TYC facilities made it difficult to hire and retain staff. The youth buildup brought in more children with mental problems. Open dormitory settings allowed older youths to become predators of younger inmates and to organize against guards. And the state's political leadership — both Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature — was slow to recognize the growing crisis because the focus was on adult prisons while the juvenile system ran on autopilot. That changed last month as a scandal broke over how two administrators at the West Texas State School in Pyote had sexually abused boys in their care. The men were forced to resign, but never were prosecuted by Ward County District Attorney Randall "Randy" Reynolds. Fixing blame What soon emerged was a portrait of an agency with thousands of physical and sexual abuse cases inadequately investigated and often not properly referred to prosecutors. Oversight of TYC staff by its board, the governor and the Legislature also was inadequate, many of those involved now admit. "Our plate was so full that (the agency) was not raised to the level that it was a huge problem," said House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Plano. "It's probably our fault. I've got to admit a lot of guilt sometimes, saying, 'Why didn't we get involved with it more?'" Many state leaders, including Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, were quick to blame the scandal on poor management at TYC and Reynolds' inaction. But others, such as House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Chairman Harold Dutton, D-Houston, said blame also should be shared by the Legislature and the state's leadership. "For us now to suggest that somehow or another we have no culpability is disingenuous on our part, but rather than finding blame we ought to fix it once and for all," Dutton said. Ever since the Bush-era expansion began, staffing has been a major problem at TYC facilities. Pete Alfaro, who was appointed to the TYC board by Bush and made chairman by Perry, said the remote locations chosen by the Legislature for TYC facilities, plus low pay, attracted some sexual predators and otherwise unfit people to the job. High staff turnover has made employee screening difficult, he said. "If you get a bad apple, that bad apple, like in this West Texas case, can really mess things up," Alfaro said. By itself The state school at the heart of the controversy is in Pyote, a town of 131 people some 50 miles from Midland-Odessa. It houses 250 inmates and has a budgeted staff of 273. The staff turnover rate was 45 percent in 2005. "The Legislature allowed TYC to locate those facilities in such out-of-the-way places, now we're paying the piper," Dutton said. Dutton said the staff has to be lured to work at the facilities, inmates are cut off from their families, and professional services such as mental health and drug abuse counseling are difficult to obtain. The only requirement to become a TYC juvenile corrections officer is to be 18 years old and have a GED or better. Often, there are teens guarding teens. The juvenile corrections officers receive 80 hours of classroom training before starting their jobs, compared with 200 hours of classroom training for guards in the adult prison system. TYC has the most on-the-job injury claims of any state agency, with three to four times as many workers' compensation claims as the adult prison system. The annual salary for a juvenile corrections officer ranges from $22,445 to $33,279 a year with no overtime. TYC reports that until corrections officers have been with the system for almost two years, they can make "similar wages with much less stress" in either the retail or food service industries. "It's important not to polarize the picture. The issue is not terrible brutal staff nor terrible brutal youth," said juvenile justice advocate Isela Gutierrez. "Many staff members are simply not adequately trained to deal with the very complex needs of the youth that they see: high mental health issues, extreme emotional disturbance." A problem explodes The core of the current TYC crisis apparently stems from budget cuts instituted by the Legislature and Perry in 2003 to avoid any tax increases. The staffing issues only grew worse after 2003. The Legislature ordered TYC to start closing contract care facilities and move more youth into state-run facilities without regard for the trouble the state facilities already had maintaining a staff. The number of youths in state-run facilities grew by 500 in a single year. Staffing ratios dropped from one corrections officer for every 15 students to one to 24. The confirmed cases of staff-on-youth abuse grew from 459 in 2003 to more than 980 two years later. "What you've got is really just the formula for having absolute chaos and a breakdown of everything in TYC," Dutton said. Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, who has headed the appropriations subcommittee that sets the TYC budget, rejects any notion that the budget cuts alone caused the current crisis. He said TYC management shifted its focus from rehabilitating youth to housing them. He said there was poor agency management and inadequate supervision by the state's executive branch. And though sexual abuse has gotten everyone's attention, physical abuse is a far greater problem at TYC facilities, Turner said. "It should have been on somebody's radar screen," he said. Turnover had always been high, but suddenly TYC's annual loss of juvenile corrections officers shot up from 32 percent in 2001 to 48 percent in 2006. It was almost 70 percent at some institutions. Corrections officer resignations usually occur during the first six months on the job. Most quit simply by leaving work one day and never returning. Whitmire said regardless of whether budget cuts caused problems within TYC, they are no excuse for administrators allowing the scandal to fester. "You can't say budget cuts allow for sex abusers to go unsanctioned, unpunished, unfired," Whitmire said. "You can't say lack of resources is the reason for covering up sex abuse." r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com
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#1. To: aristeides (#0)
As we see daily in the White House.
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