Three years later and the best the agency can say in response is
TYC board says complaints of abuse are off base
"I assure you we take the complaints seriously and will thoroughly investigate, but the advocates' letter to the Department of Justice contains overly broad and inflammatory accusations that ignore and dismiss out-of-hand the vast improvements we have made over the past two years with safeguards and programming that match best practices nationwide," the Rev. Scott Fisher, chairman of the seven-member board, said in a statement he read at a board meeting in Austin.
"This board has never, and will never, tolerate abuse of children in our custody and the agency will continue to take swift and firm corrective action any time there is a documented case. We strongly disagree, however, with the characterizations portrayed in the (advocates') letter."
How to sort out the truth between these conflicting claims? Well, it would help if the TYC officials would answer each charge specifically.
Texas Youth Commission still plagued with problems, advocacy groups say
"When we have allegations like this that can't ensure the safety of the youths in our facilities, we're back to where we were three or four years ago," said House Corrections Committee Chairman Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin , a member of a special legislative panel that investigated previous Youth Commission abuses and pushed through the reforms.
"I want answers to each of the allegations. ... I don't want to hear that we're making strides. If what we're doing is not what needs to be done to stop this, then it's time for some changes. It cannot continue."
Again, we could have a case of overzealous watchdogs intruding into a process which is, indeed, fixing what was wrong in a timely and orderly way. The problem with that hypothesis is that if such fix is in progress and being done properly , there should be ongoing self-evaluation and , heaven forbid, some kind of empirical evidence. What TDY has is this:
TYC board says complaints of abuse are off base
On Friday, the agency's two independent monitors who are tasked with investigating complaints of abuse and lax security - Inspector General Cris Love and Independent Ombudsman John Moore - insisted they had not been alerted to the advocates' complaints.
"I am somewhat disturbed by what was described as systemic problems. I have not seen them," said Moore, 59, who has resigned effective Sept. 1 to, as he explained it, "pursue some other interests."
"No youth has said they feel threatened or that they feel abused or unsafe," he said, noting that his investigators ask that as a last question to every youth they interview.
In his six months on the job, Moore, who lives in Denison, said he has spent most of his time establishing an administrative structure "to allow the ombudsman's office to operate. There was not one when I got here."
He said his job has mostly involved "hiring a staff, getting computers, writing a policies and procedures manual, getting an operations system in place. ... Now that that's accomplished, I think I can move on."
Moore acknowledged that he has visited only three Youth Commission locations - lockups in Giddings and Gainesville, and a parole office in Dallas - during his time as ombudsman. At the same time, his staff has logged 282 contacts with youths and visited sites 19 times, he said.
Texas Youth Commission still plagued with problems, advocacy groups say
This does not exactly inspire confidence in the board's denials. Six months, visitations to 3 facilities, NOT including the Corsicana facility which won the national notoriety notice for sexual assaults, does not lend high creditability to Mr. Moore's soothing words.
But, I guess we can always look to the governor for timely and decisive leadership in such times of crisis. He is , after all, claiming TYC a roaring success and proof of his worthiness of another term.
Gov. Rick Perry's office said in a statement that Texas can fix any problems on its own.
"Since 2007, Gov. Perry has passed sweeping reforms to ensure the safety of incarcerated youth in the TYC system, and the state will continue to improve the system without the help of the federal government," the statement said.
With such detailed responses to the accusations, clearly we can put the matter to rest (snark) along with the recent problems at the Department of Family and Protective Services. And hey, if the governor says we don't need the feds then that is that. Its not like we needed them in the past to force our Republican leaders in the executive and legislative branches to do the right thing.
Oh,except for things liketexas jail conditions,environmental regulations" TARGET="">, environmental regulations and educational funding and stuff like that.
The long standing pattern for this governor, for Texas under Republican rule is the same: the vulnerable, the politically disconnected are easy prey for budget cutting and criminal negligence in supervision and administration. The cruelty and hypocrisy of Rick Perry and his government by indifference and favoritism is brought into full focus in cases such as the TYC. Check out my earlier columns on this governor's policies toward the poor, Texans needing healthcare or sound public education. Check out the links below. Rick is nothing if not consistent in his depraved indifference toward the most vulnerable of Texans. With Perry such failures are not "bugs" but features.
Perry's Failure to Properly Care for our Children Endangers Our Future!
Rick Perry - Death before Bad Image ! Do the Dirt With Bureaucracy! [Updated]
Heaping More Pain on The Poor And Weak - Its not a bug, Its A Feature!
Rick Perry Must Go
Rick Perry's Educational Legacy......
NOTE: These are only from this year...... |
