Following two violent disturbances at a Texas juvenile lockup last month that included fighting and breaking windows, a state investigative report found staffing shortages and agency policies contributed to the incidents.
The report from independent ombudsman Debbie Unruh was obtained Friday by the Houston Chronicle. It criticizes top officials at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department for allowing key vacancies to go unfilled for months, including some positions that prevented officials at the Giddings State School from relocating troublemakers.
In the two disturbances at the facility located about 50 miles east of Austin, groups of youths fought, climbed on roofs and broke windows.
Legislators have promised to hold hearings to investigate the growing violence and control issues in Texas' five state-run juvenile lockups, four of which have had major disturbances in the past three months. The agency houses about 1,000 offenders, mostly older teenagers serving time for violent offenses.
The new findings mirror those made after disturbances at Giddings in 2012.
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, an architect of juvenile-justice reforms, expressed frustration. The Houston Democrat says "it's time for an adult discussion about how we have a safe environment there and at the other facilities, because what the current leadership is doing is not working."
Texas Juvenile Justice Department officials challenged several conclusions in the report, insisting that issues at Giddings don't represent widespread problems.
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The report says officials at Giddings were limited by current policies, noting that a decision to lock down the facility when the second disturbance began was blocked by an agency policy allowing youths to go to school classes at a certain time.
After the 2012 disturbances, a new detention program was created to redirect the most aggressive youths at Giddings, though the new report suggests the Phoenix Program is not effective.
The report notes that of the about 40 youths involved in the largest Giddings disturbance last month, several had graduated from the program. Seven had been involved in the first disturbance, but hadn't been removed from Giddings.
There also were vacancies in positions for those who could have evaluated troublemakers and sent them to court to be reassigned to an adult prison or into a more-stringent juvenile program. The report said that 10 of the about 40 youths involved were eligible to be transitioned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or to parole, but hadn't been evaluated by a psychologist.
Juvenile Justice Department spokesman Jim Hurley said Austin officials have for several months been providing psychologists and case managers to augment the Giddings staff. He said more than 90 percent of the jobs at Giddings are now filled.
Hurley said agency statistics show the Phoenix program has been successful.
