Scott Medlock, a prisoners' rights attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said his organization has filed a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread inmate abuse and is also representing Joseph Galloway, a former inmate who seeks damages for physical and sexual abuse suffered at the TYC.
"There are so many cases that may have merit that we have to turn away because we don't have the resources," he said. "We'd love it if there were more attorneys interested in representing these children."
But more lawsuits will probably mean more damages for the TYC, whose cases are argued, negotiated or settled by the Texas attorney general's office.
Listen closely, my friends, this is the sound of the "other shoe dropping." Another "thud" to listen for will be when the first cases from wrongfully fired employees start to make it to the litigation or settlement stage.
Ombudsman Will Harrell predicted a "feeding frenzy" of additional litigation now that TYC has begun to settle cases. I don't think the Legislature was planning for this inevitability when they cut the agency's budget this spring, but TYC cannot just walk away from the legal baggage created by its past mismanagement
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66 comments:
Wait until the employee lawsuits make the papers. How much farther can we head down this path without any our elected officials stepping in and attempt to right this ship?
Excuse me; Have you not been paying attention to the last legislative session? I do not know how much more "help" TYC can stand from the Lege! Retired 2004.
TYC is going to learn, if You Play You Have to Pay! TYC played with the lives of too many people for it to be forgotten and now they have to pay the price for their arrogance and blatant abuse of people. They abused the youth they were supposed to help and the employees who tried to work with the youth. In fact TYC continues to abuse everyone concerned. It is too bad the TYC administration is not held accountable and the tax payers will have to pick up the tab for their wrong doing. I think all of the past corrupt TYC administration should forfeit any retirement to offset the cost of their unlawful behavior. If the people in power were placed in a position to have something to lose then you would see a much higher interest in doing the right thing! As it is now they could care less when they do wrong because it costs them nothing; the tax payers pay the price. Under the current system there is no direct accountability for administrators of state agencies when they do wrong.
I find the post about a million dollars being spent on hand guns, rifles, bullet proof vests, GPS equipped cars, and other miscellaneous tactical equipment over the top! What does a juvenile justice agency need this kind of equipment for? Why duplicate local and state law enforcement? Is Ms. Pope on some power trip, it would seem so! First we stop restraints and go to chemical spray and now we go to semi-automatic firearms; what is next. TDCJ mentality to the maximum at TYC CO these days I guess.
I see TYC as a mortally wounded state agency. The demise of TYC is imminent and unavoidable at this point. Too much has been done to destroy the fabric of TYC for it to rebound short of miracle! Staffing is at an all time low at many of the TYC units as well as Central Office. Job postings are not getting the response of past times. Qualified people have no desire to work at TYC because of the horrendous reputation TYC has for employee abuse. Only the uninformed or desperate apply these days for jobs at TYC and leave quickly when they come to understand what they have gotten into. The only source for TYC employees seems to be people from TDCJ. I recently heard from a source inside of TDCJ they were 5000 employees down. I think we have a major problem in Texas corrections. Oh, I forgot the Legislature Fixed everything!
Anthony Mikulastik
No wonder the genius Owens retired. He didn't want to have to admit this failure of his "reforms".
One wonders who is leaking the settlement information. As an old trial lawyer, $30,000 sounds kind of cheap to me.
Payouts for these kind of lawsuits are just the beginning of TYC's legal financial problems. These type of lawsuits will snowball as well as the settlement value per case. The employee termination cases will also cost money, but the biggest financial problem is going to arise on the lawsuits relating to providing the Morales and other legal standards for conditions and treatment of institutionalize youth, which are the multimillion dollar cases that will create the need for a court takeover.
Howard A. Hickman
I find it sad that TYC is spending so much money on unnecessary equipment, however, on the same note, what do you expect when D.Pope is spending her days "redecorating" Central Office. Let's move everyone and every department, now that is a priority!!!
If they settle with Joseph G., it will be an absolute travesty. That one needs to go to court. He and his mother have been riding the wave. All of his constantly multiplying allegations were thoroughly investigated. We cannot wait for him to get up on the stand, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Then we can respond with evidence. If they pay him off without that, we will lose the chance for the real truth to come out. The public needs to know the truth about Joseph. Especially after Senator Hinojosa falsley declared on the floor of the Senate that his allegations were confirmed!
It is one thing to hold press conferences and to lie to the media. It is a felony to lie on the witness stand. I say, do not settle with the Galloways! Let it go to court.
Just wait until the employees lawsuits take over ,, I know of 10 so far in the central Texas area, and I would say after reading about the other scandal in TDCJ where good old Ed Owens knew His Buddy was raping the Women in His Office the Feds should then come in and clean another House out !!! And Ms Popes friends and relatives will have to finsd new Jobs..Whats so funny is the Senators are now talking with TYC Staff to know exactly what is going on at each Facility,, Not like the old days when no one cared...
That no one in CO cares is obvious. Today Ayo Oman$%&* (or whatever his name is) was promoted to regional director. I wonder how TYC can justify promoting someone who knew that Brookins was taking kids off the dorms at all hours of the night and taking them to the administration building for sex and did absolutely nothing. It's no wonder that TYC is in the shape it's in when they promote a criminal instead of prosecuting him for his role in the cover-up. What an absolute travesty!
Isn't Ayo Omoniyi the same one who was blogged on back when all of this Ray Brookins/Hernandez story broke? He was a PS II back then under Brookins, correct? I would hope that whomever had information on this would come forth and shed some light on this subject.
I thought all positions at the Teaxs Youth Commission had to be interviewed for (Gwan Hawthorne will be promoted to the position of Superintendent of the Gainesville State School on October 1). Not stating she is not qualified for this job but if you post positions and then fill them without interviewing looks and smells bad.
Lets see, Paul Bartush interviewed for the Regional Directors job on the 9/20/07 and receives the job, then Gwan gets a promotion without interviewing, TYC just keeps getting better.
To Gainesville Employees:
I'm so sorry to hear the news about your new superintendent. I'll keep you in my prayers.
Anonymous
Oh trust me, GNS will be in a world of hurt when she takes over! She couldn't do her job as Assist. Supt. Then she gets promoted, sounds like her track record just keeps getting better. I guess that "bling" will take you farther than I expected. I guess birds of a feather...
We all know she is in good with the Pope. This agency sure has changed for the better hasn't it?
Once the news was out about Hawthorne's promotion, a groan swept across the campus that could be heard for miles around! I believe that is the only time that she has inspired any "team work" since she got there. I just wonder how far the Pope is willing to stick her neck out for Hawthorne?
Howard,
I was surprised to read in the DMN piece about statutory limits that have been placed on the ability of juvenile inmates to bring suit, and to file class action suits.
Don't they preclude the possibility of another court takeover? It seems that's their design.
INterested in your expertise on this question.
Bill Bush
Bill,
No need to worry. The dollar limits relate to the tort claims act.
Some constitutional claims are not so limited, and in some cases such as where the executive director ordered a violation of a legally enacted rule through an executive order that executive director may be personally liable for unlimited damages.
Dollar damages against a governmental entity generally pose dollar limit problems. While equity/constitutional injunctive type claims are not dollar limited since they are dealing with court orders enforcing legal rights as opposed to collecting money for personal injuries arising from negligence (tort claim).
Howard A. Hickman
What I find so humorous is that we continue see all the faults of this agency but nothing happens.
The leadership has snowballed our elected officials into thinking they are doing a great job, they continue to place staff in positions they are not qualified for but they understand how to say "Yes sir Boss", this would be considered TDCJ jargon.
I would like to see the Brookins trial come about so we can see all the staff who had knowledge of his activities named under sworn testimony and then we can really appreciated the wisdom of our current leaders and the decisions they make.
The jobs of Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent have been posted for months at the top of the TYC job listings. The instructions in the listing are that if you are interested, contact CO HR to see which jobs are available. They have been interviewing a pool of candidates so that they have a pool of acceptable candidates as positions come available. Like all other agencies, TYC is not required to interview all applicants - just the ones in whom they may be interested. So, if you applied and did not get an interview, it means they screened your application and were not interested in the qualifications you have. If you did not apply, then you cannot complain.
There are a lot of things I do not like about how the administration is handling things, and I have no idea how fair their application screening process is, but, I have to admit, they have had those jobs posted, and they have been conducting interviews.
Fair Job Interviews ??? One Staff was bragging how He was offered a Administrators Job at a meeting it seems Humphrey slipped Him a note and asked Him if He wanted the Job ..
What an improvement from the past when ythey had to apply for Jobs ,,, and why havent they done anything to Dwight Harris ??? Hell if He was so bad why is He still free?? I think we need to really look at the session and see exactly what they were after was it just to get more friends a Job or did they really want to help the Youth Of Texas???
Heck, the word has always been that anyone can apply for a job, but if you were not invited to apply, you were not going to get the job. That goes back to the days when Dwight Harris was still only an Assistant Superintendent. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I don't know about all the bad things some of you have been saying about Ayo and Gwan, but I do know that Freeman and his disciples despised both of them. To me, that is a positive recommendation.
Thanks Howard,
Sounds like yr suggesting the ED might be criminally as well as civilly liable... esp if DoJ were to get involved in a constitutional claim.
If so, maybe we'll see the lege pass some sort of retroactive immunity statute the way the Congress is doing right now for telecom companies who assisted in illegal wiretapping.
Since someone else brought it up, when will Brookins or Hernandez stand trial? Did they plead or will there actually be a trial?
Bill Bush
Bill Bush,
Good luck with getting an answer to that question. I have been asking that for weeks and no one gives any response. If anyone knows anything about this would you please post it??
I not sure if despising anyone (Ayo-Gwan)) is the issue. I believe what everyone seems to be saying is "What has changed from Dwight to what we have now"?
Thats right, Dwight's administration promoted Chip Harrison from WTSS and now Ayo has been promoted. Lets see wasn't Ayo at WTSS when this all broke and isn't his name is in all the reports?
Maybe your right sounds like a lot of sour grapes, but it should receive some scrutiny so we do not go back to square one all over again.
The Texas Rangers report concerning the West Texas Incident on pages 78, 88, and 89 may shed some light into who knew what and did they report Ray Brookins and or file a complaint against the allegations made.
Austin American Statesman April 05, 2007
It would be ok with me if the current administration is run out of town on a rail like the last one.
Ayo was a mistake. We'll be back in the papers soon. Thanks Bronco Billy.
Anon at 12:51, this was not a mistake, it was well planned calculated move. Think about it, the current TDCJ leadership, according to what I've read in the MSM, is known for covering up for each other, this man will fit right in. Why else would they promote someone who has been a superintendent for just a little over a month and an assistant for little over a year?
Answer: To thank him for covering up what he knew about the WTSS sex scandal and his mentor, the former superintendent!! He has all the qualifications Bronco Billy and the current leadership are looking for!!
Same goes for Gwan. She has only been an assistant for one year. I guess it is good to have someone in CO to "hook you up" qualified or not. She can't even make a decision on her own. She'll throw the question back at the staff and ask them what policy says or give her interpretation of policy. (we all know that is way out of line) She writes people up for things she herself can’t do, but expects them to be able to. She violates policy by wearing shorts on campus! I guess the rules don’t apply to her. Wow GNS is in for an interesting time. I hope she doesn’t have to speak to the media while in her position because “This here campus” would look funny in print!
Ayo was not aware of what took place with Brookins. A case worker who had a grudge against Ayo made these allegations. We are thrilled to have Ayo back at West Texas.
Ayo was told that Brookins was taking kids in his office all hours of the night. That's a fact. Ayo was also aware that Brookins was violating policy by dropping kids phases. Ayo was aware of that fact. Ayo should have had the gonads Billy Hollis had and take those issues to Austin. And if you are referring to Billy Hollis as being that disgrunteled caseworker, I can't say I wouldn't be disgrunteled either knowing kids on my caseload that I was trying to rehabilitate were being sexually molested by the acting superintendent and no one would stop it depite what they were informed. It would frustrate me to no end that children on my caseload who refused to engage in sexual acts with Brookins had their phases dropped thus prolonging their stay.You got to keep in mind, these are someone elses kids.
Ayo knew what was being alleged. He should have acted. He didn't.
If this is the case why did Ayo get promoted?
If everyone has this knowledge of this report why would Austin open up this can of worms?
Are they really that much above the law or do they believe Ayo had nothing to do with this mess?
Scott Henson, maybe this is something that would make headlines if investigated and proven true. Why not contact the MSM and see if they can jump on this story before it becomes old news. Or contact Billy Hollis and see what he has to say.
9:31 a.m. if Ayo was not aware of the allegations of sex abuse, then what kind of PA was he? The ranger's report clearly states he knew about the allegations. God help West Texas because they don't need employees like you!! What planet are you from?
Can someone at WTSS check the status of the Brookins/Hernandez case and post what you know?
As far as Ayo, I personally like the guy, but he should not be a regional director. He knew what was occurring but seemed afraid to say anything. You can't be afraid if you're repoting in good faith. All he had to do was make the call and report what was being alleged. Hell, Hollis got out the freakin bullhorn and sounded that alarm. Bill has all my respect for doing it.
9:31, Please don't speak for everyone at West Texas. How can you say Ayo did not know? This just proves the point that he was not doing his job well. Ayo was hired to protect the youth under his care, he should have taken an interest in them instead of leaving everyday at 2:00 p.m. to pick up his kids from day care and school and coming in at 9:30 every morning.
Perhaps if he had been at work more, he would have known. Give me a freaking break, how stupid do you think we are? At least Hollis blew the whistle even if he knew it meant he might lose his job. He had the guts to report it. I like Ayo, I just don't think he is qualified for the job he was promoted to.
Scott, I'm with 12:13 the MSM should pick this up. I believe all the secretaries that he had, should be questioned. They are probably a wealth of information that hasn't been tapped yet!
09/22@9:31am - Thanks for the support Sonya (Nichols) and Shennell (Smith).
Much Love,
Aye-O
You forgot to thank your other friend Genese, she is gonna be angry and pouting!! You know how she gets!!!
Excerpted from http://www.youthtoday.org/youthtoday/April07/Wilkins%20Report.doc
Caseworker Billy Hollis was so disturbed by the conduct of Mr. Brookins towards youth on Dorm 2, and the ineffectiveness of Program Administrator Omoniyi in addressing the issue, that on August 27, 2004, he wrote a letter to Executive Director Dwight Harris. He included in his letter a report of Mr. Brookins being alone with youth as one of 11 complaints about the administration of West Texas State School. In September, 2004, Mr. Hollis overheard youth KM telling his mother about the way Mr. Brookins had touched him when visiting the dorm, and that he wanted to file charges against him. Mr. Hollis said he reported this to Mr. Omoniyi who told him the contact was not offensive and could not be reported further. According to Mr. Hollis, on September 14, 2004, youth KM again expressed his desire to file charges against Mr. Brookins. Mr. Hollis said another youth also told him on the 14th that Mr. Brookins had watched KM shower and asked who that “big black stud” was. He said he sent an email to Mr. Omoniyi encouraging him to report the issue up the chain of command. Mr. Omoniyi forwarded the email to Mr. Harrison and Administrative Assistant Genese Shorten, and the information was reported as alleged abuse on September 15, 2004. The allegation was assigned for investigation that day.
-- RS
Like I said, Ayo was clueless of what was taking place with Brookins and the youth on campus. If he had any knowledge or was involved why was he allowed to become promoted to Assistant Supt. at WTSS and then Supt. at the Al Price Unit? And finally the regional director of the West Region.
10:22 p.m., you've answered your own question. He was promoted because of his experience! You know his whole month of being a superintendent at Al Price and then his almost a year as being assistant at West Texas or wait, was it 6 months as assistant? I just can't ever get that one straight!
Since you seem to be his PR person, you should contact the ranger and tell him his report is inaccurate regarding your client's knowledge of the allegations against Brookins. He is hurting your client's chances of being the next executive director! On second thought, don't bother, I don't think he put that on his application for regional superintendent and if he did, Broncho Billy obviously didn't peruse the app. How lucky can some people get???
Juvenile Justice
DOJ Settles to
Fix Facility
The U.S. Department of Justice
(DOJ) has reached another agreement
with a state to fix abuses at juvenile
justice facilities.
The settlement with Maryland in
May is part of a Bush administration
pattern in which the department’s
civil rights division has focused on
reaching settlements to change dangerous
conditions at juvenile justice
facilities, rather than forcing them
to close. While some juvenile justice
observers have applauded the strategy,
others have called it too soft. (See
“U.S. Justice Department Cuffs Juvenile
Corrections,” November 2004.)
The latest settlement focuses on
youth-on-youth violence at the Baltimore
City Juvenile Justice Center,
which DOJ blamed on poor staff
training and an absence of youth activities.
A 2005 report by the department
cited juveniles playing Xbox
and basketball, but doing little else.
The facility houses up to 144 boys.
The settlement calls for the state
Department of Juvenile Services to
overhaul the center’s mental health,
behavioral management and educational
services. It says the center will
subject youth to less seclusion and
will redesign its rooms to cut down
on the opportunities for suicide.
Maryland had previously settled
with the DOJ to fix two other juvenile justice facilities.
The settlement can be found at
www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/
bcjjc_set_5-18-07.pdf.
Regarding the status of the Brookins/Hernandez trial...it is my understanding that 'discovery' evidence is in the process of being delivered to defence attorneys. Trial may still be some time away, if they don't please out first.
Geez, I can't type or spell - meant to say 'plead' out and 'defense' attorneys - sorry:(
Funny you guys are complaining about people getting jobs without interviews. You ought to be live in central office where you can create you own job, work your own hours and make over 40,000 a year for 4 hours a day. Don't believe that? Ask Cynthia Ellis to explain.
I have sometimes winced in pain at some of the things written here, but I have come to a life changing point of view because of what my former collegues have said. You know, there is a silver lining to being fired from this outfit. Personally, I have my life back and I am well on my way to becoming a compassionate human being again. I hope can as well. I also truly feel sorry for my friends left behind and I sincerely hope they can escape this dark hole of despair called state employment. Yes, I know I wrote this anonymously but my friends as well as haters know. Later.
This started out as a discussion about settling lawsuits and has devolved into a discussion about job postings. The job postings issue seems to be invading most postings on this lately, just as the soap opera at McFadden did not so long ago.
speaking of McFadden, does anybody know whatever happened there? Last thing i heard it was being closed down because staff had quit in droves, and somebody was abusing the kids there.
Lots of drama as usual at McFadden. The rangers paid a visit last week because of some "hidden" 225's and medication switching that was covered-up to make Cooke and cronies look like they are doing their jobs. Talk about lawsuits, McFadden will be one of the leaders in lawsuits against TYC. Just watch.
Why isn't Mcfadden closed by now? Why are we even wasting blog space by talking about that pathetic excuse for a superintendent they have? Everybody knows how she got her position in the first place.
How does anyone in high places in TYC get their jobs? As the newly hired regional director and current super until 10/1/07 from Gainesville bragged about having the questions and the answers and how to bs your way through, but most of the time it helps to have a friend in high places. As we all know we have supervisors at Gainesville that can't read and write much less know what policy is and how to enforce it.It is funny how we are told ahead of time when someone BIG is coming to campus and we are to make everyone look good and keep our mouths shut. I really wished someone BIG would show up out of the blue and start talking to direct care staff and case managers not administration.
9:03, same at McFadden. They thought Pope was going to show up last week "unannounced" so the day of the so-called "visit" Cooke had the youth out working. Told everybody to keep their mouths shut or face the consequences, then nobody but another investigator showed up. Isn't it odd how they get this information when these "visits" might take place??? Somebody in CO is watching out for them.
9:03 document everything and have witnesses if possible of situations that you believe are in violation of policy. Make sure you have this in place and ask for a meeting with a supervisor out of CO.
If you have any witnesses where these statements were made about having questions prior to the interview bring this forth. Once again if we do not bring these issues up then we will never make any headway, you would also be covered under the whistle blowers act if you have proof about your allegations.
Everyone from a JCO I up the chain needs to ensure they keep notes and dates of all interactions when situations like these come about and not try to remember the dates and witnesses two weeks down the road. You can also contact legal and the conversation will be kept confidential.
10:25- The whistleblower act is a joke. YOU WILL NOT BE PROTECTED BY THE STATE. Get a good a lawyer.
I know that back when Faith Campbell was in charge of our grievances, she would call her favorite superintendents and give them the heads-up on them when they were filed. I now wonder how many of those actually were seen by anyone other that Campbell and the people we complained about. TYC is a joke!
Don't want to make this a "McFadden thread" but did anybody see the report in the Star-Telegram yesterday? Looks like McFadden will have a decision on its investigation into that abuse incident by next week. Of course, Pope says "98 percent" of the abuse has been eliminated....where the hell does this woman live? They are just covering it up more...
Lies, damned lies and statistics.
It is all in how one reads and reports the statistics. Before all this mess began, YCIs were investigating allegations of abuse and neglect. They were confirming about 20% agency wide. But, that 20% is deceptive. Most confirmations were not for abuse. Even when abuse was the initial allegation, more often than not, what was confirmed did not meet the criteria (under the Family Code law) for abuse. More often than not what was confirmed (when there was a confirmation) was a policy violation on the part of the accused staff. However, when the politicos were using TYC statistics to prove what a lousy job TYC was doing, they were lumping all confirmations together as abuse. Now we have the new and improved version of TYC with persons hand-picked by the governmental reformers. The head of the new and improved TYC, when reporting the "improvements," is only counting actual abuse confirmations. But, she is comparing them to the old system which lumped all confirmations together. Apples vs Oranges. Of course there has been a dramatic drop. It is not a matter of what is actually going on, it is a matter of how you count.
In other words, there are two different rules for counting? One rule for the old administration and a different rule for the new administration? That surely seems to be what has happened.
Yep. Let me put it this way, using the apples and oranges analogy. If apples represent abuse and oranges represent policy violations and you put them both in the same basket, and label that basket "Abuse confirmations" You have a goodly amount of fruit in the basket. If you change the rules and take out all the oranges, without changing the name of the basket, suddenly you have a mostly empty basket. Voila! You have improved dramatically! Give yourselves a big pat on the back.
Congratulation to Gwan Hawthrone on her news position YOU DESERVE IT.
For the rest of the uneducated under quality employee who did not have a chance of getting the SUPERINTENT POSITION. You should be ashamed of yourself. Just because Gwan have what it take, and you don’t. Go back to school and get your Degree like she did….
And as far as this comment: I hope she doesn’t have to speak to the media while in her position because “This here campus” would look funny in print!
DO YOUR RESEARCH SHE HAVE GAVE PENLTY OF SPEECHES
10/1 @ 3:52
Please go take a 9th grade English course. Share what you learn with your idol.
Psst... here is some information... Gwan was hired by Clay and Freeman, Gwan was trained by Clay and Freeman, and Gwan was supervised by Clay and Freeman, long before Brantley or Bartush came along. She is cunning and more streety than all of them. She can do flips and tricks with ease to convince anyone that she is on "the team", whatever "the team" maybe on any given day. But let me ask you one questions, and think about it, where do you think her loyalties lie?
Her loyalities are to GWAN and GWAN's paycheck. The TYC made a terrrible mistake promoting her. D. Pope will find that out soon enough. Gwan will find out that you can only B.S. some folks for just so long before it stinks so bad that someone is bound to notice it.
We just thought Gainesville was in trouble with the GWAN in charge, but I don't know which is worse, her or her new assistant who has already, shown that he and GWAN run side by side in the BS department. The sad thing is their lack of common sense is going to cause the youth to suffer but these are the type of people they (TYC) and D. Pope want in charge.
If you dont't like it leave and don't let the door hit you...
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