Protecting Young Offenders From Abuse

Across The Country, Child Advocates Deplore The Conditions In Juvenile Detention Facilities

(AP) 
Other abuse is physical, and often sadistic.

For boys at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, authority came in the person of 50-year-old Gilbert Hicks, and he wielded that authority emphatically.

Hicks was convicted of sexual assault in October 2005 after he "grabbed, squeezed and twisted" a boy's testicles, according to a federal lawsuit.

When the boy sought medical attention 10 days later because of pain and swelling, Hicks, who had worked at the facility for 24 years, taunted him by asking: "What, you want me to squeeze your (genitals) again?"

Hicks allegedly abused two other boys the same way.

His sentence? Five years probation and 90 days in jail to be served on weekends.

What sets the case apart from many others is the successful conviction. Often such cases come down to the word of a guard against that of a teenager with a long criminal record, the primary reason that so few charges of abuse are confirmed and prosecuted, child advocates say.

While it is likely that incarcerated youth make false allegations of mistreatment against their guards, there are cases of abuse not being reported because "many children are afraid of what would happen if they snitch on staff," said Mark Soler, executive director of the Center for Children's Law and Policy in Washington D.C.

The worst physical confrontations can end in death. At least five juveniles died after being forcibly placed in restraints in facilities run by state agencies or private facilities with government contracts since Jan. 1, 2004.

The use of restraint techniques and devices and their too-aggressive application have long been controversial and came under intense scrutiny last year after the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.

A grainy video taken at a Florida boot camp in January 2006 shows several guards striking the teen while restraining him. Six guards and a nurse were acquitted Oct. 12 of manslaughter charges after defense attorneys argued that the guards used acceptable tactics.

In Maryland, 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons lost consciousness and died after he was held to the floor face down at a privately owned facility that was contracted by the state. Prosecutors say the staff waited 41 minutes after the boy was unresponsive to call for help.

Scott Rolle, an attorney for one of the counselors, had said the men were only trying to prevent Simmons from hurting himself or someone else.

A judge dismissed misdemeanor charges against five counselors; the state has appealed.

Other restraint-related deaths were three boys - 17, 15 and 13 - in facilities in Tennessee, New York and Georgia, respectively. At least 24 others in juvenile correction centers died since 2004 from suicide and natural causes or preexisting medical conditions.

[oldpilot954]

Appropriate childhood discipline is the answer for most kids. By the time they are in their teens it is hard (but not impossible) to reform them. As for the abuse in the correctional facilities, why should it surprise us. I agree that money alone will not change the situation. However, I have to ask myself what kind of personality it takes to be cursed and verbally abused by the inmates for 40 hours a week and get paid $18,000 a year. If you want someone to act like a professional (which is exactly what the guards I know are) then you need to pay them like a professional.

[my2centss]

"Some youth view sexual relationships with staff members as consensual, not as adults in positions of authority abusing their power."

Kinda like Bill Clinton?

[random_radar]

There is a reason that CRUEL and unusual punishment is unconstitutional. The founding fathers didn''t want America to develop the abusive prison system that existed in Europe.

Well, they failed to stop it. Vindictive and abusive human nature possesses all government everywhere in all ages. We don''t see what an awful civilization we have become.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by libsrweak at 02:03 AM

It be even better if parents didn''t have to work day and night to pay for things like the high price of housing, the high price of health care, and the high price of gas and heating bills. Imagine, the could actually be home with their children. Then they could say NO to all those things.

[tbweb]

Environments like this need Internet Web Cams so that anyone who wants to look inside 24/7 can. The best protection from this type of institutional abuse is public exposure.

[libsrweak]

to solve this problem on a long term and more lasting effect, parents needs to tell thier kids that "NO" it is not okay to be sexually premiscious.."NO" they cannot go out and smoke dope.."NO" they cannot hang out with thier buddies that late at night..we need to teach our kids responsibility and accountability..I know its harder to do that that just simply say "they have the right" because its a lazy way out of our OWN responsibility to our own kids..