With a joint House-Senate legislative oversight committee meeting on Wednesday in Austin to discuss the Texas Youth Commission, I thought I'd link to a number of different Grits items to provide background and context for any legislators, staff, media or members of the public preparing for the event:
TYC's Longstanding Problems:
- DoJ Report: TYC kids not safe
- Legislative committee reports presaged TYC's woes
- Understaffing at Texas youth lockups caused skyrocketing abuse rates
- TYC suffers from understaffing, focus on power politics
- Healthcare poor for kids in TYC, committee told
- Mentally ill kids warehoused at TYC
- TYC kids need healthy relationships with adults they trust
- Easter reflections and roundup on TYC woes
- TYC staff losses up 500%!
- Houston, Dallas, must change local policies to "fix" TYC
- Ed Owens: TYC's new 'czar'
- Settled lawsuit alleged TYC's Ed Owens covered up sex abuse scandal at TDCJ
- Owens: TYC safe for kids. What?!
- New TYC chief threatens his employees?
- TYC to fire 66 blameless employees with past felonies
- Uh, Mr. TYC conservator, aren't you a little tardy with that report?
- Will TDCJ take over TYC by stealth? Have they already?
- Takeover of TYC by adult prison bureaucrats will continue, says The Back Gate
- Hickman: TYC general counsel should have prevented wrongful incarceration of youth
- Important questions still unanswered by TYC State of the Agency tour
- New TYC rules make more kids eligible for release
- More embarrassing errors by new TYC management
- Fired teacher told 'Just check the boxes and give them credits'
- Semantic games aim to rewrite TYC history
- Harris County kids in TYC don't receive prescribed medications, treatment
- TYC under the microscope
- Statesman: TYC pepper spray policy may violate 1984 court order
- Pepper spray a desperate, wrong solution for TYC
- Hurley: Mace Me
- TYC will move young offenders to contract facilities
- More detail on secret plan to privatize prisons for 10-13 year olds
- TYC privatization scheme measures wrong performance goals
- Morning News expose finds flaws with TYC contractors
- Push to privatize prisons for young kids on hold
- TYC renews secret plan to privatize care for 10-13 year old boys, pregnant girls
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5 comments:
Sounds like you have all the bases covered, just one problem. Who will ask these questions come 8/29/07?
The Lege is good at blaming others so they should ask many of them.
I'll reserve my comments for post-hearing. I recall all the "warm, fuzzy feeling" comments I read during the intial hearings and look what has transpired!
Certain issues must be addressed:
1. What is being done to provide safe,secure facilities?
2. What coordination is needed with the juvenile judges and who has been tasked with the coordination?
3. Where is the transparency?
4. What program(s) are presently being utilized in TYC for rehabilitation?
5. What is being done to hire/retain qualified JCO's?
6. What has the current TYC administration SUCCESSFULLY accomplished to date? Establishing committees and initiating studies are not accomplishments!
7. Would you Please present a current organizational chart?
8. Is there a problem with the implementation of any laws we (this legislative committee) caused to be passed? What have you done to solve these problems?
Another point I've not seen any work on is the vocational education that was going to be required to enable these people to get a job when they go home. Most will go home, not go to school (especially those with their GED) and have nothing to do to earn a living. Any child 16 or older can work several hours a week, but if we continue to warehouse them while all the turmoil continues without direct action, they are the losers. I may be wrong, but seems like somewhere in all this mess there a mention of a big push to have RIO-Y grow to help the kids?
2 things need to happen:
1st-the national guard needs to be activated on behalf of the children of Texas. They need to go to the facilities without guns and help fill in for the staff who are so overworked, that dangerous conditions exit in every facility. There will soon be mass riots-look at what the "children" did to the TDCJ buses when out of the TYC staff's control.
The national guard doesn't have handle with care, but we don't use "physical force" any longer so they can work. I guarantee you they have seen enough in the last 8 years, that no one would to teach them to not be violent with kids and to be a mentor.
2nd-someone needs to federal court and file paperwork for the feds to become temporary guardians of every child in TYC-I don't know how it would be done, but someone has to take control. We can't wait on lawsuits, we can't wait on the lege to jump on someone and we can't force staff to come to work. Staff are bone tired-that is the ones that are not burned out and looking for work elsewhere. Some are calling in because they are physically sick from stress.
Somehow, someone must step in NOW and help or else children or staff will end up dying from the violence that is bubbling under the surface.
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