Thursday, January 10, 2008

"Bronco" Billy Humphrey Removed from TYC

I heard this rumor this afternoon then got home to find it confirmed by the Dallas Morning News: The Texas Youth Commission's "Bronco" Billy Humphrey has finally been terminated.

Let me be the first to issue a hardy "Yee-Haw!" This is a fellow whose open defiance of agency rules and a Travis County district court perhaps did more to discredit new TYC management than any other person. Reported the Dallas News ("Texas Youth Commission Executive Billy Humphrey Abruptly Quits," Jan. 10):

Mr. Humphrey’s departure was initiated by new TYC conservator Richard Nedelkoff, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in December.

“This was a decision that the new conservator came to after his overview looking into agency operations and management personnel,” said Mr. Hurley.

Mr. Humphrey couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. A person who answered the phone in Mr. Humphrey’s TYC office said: “I can’t give you any information at all, sir.”

Mr. Humphrey, 39, an 18-year veteran of the state’s adult prison system, was hired by Ms. Pope last summer to help reform the troubled agency. As deputy director of residential services, responsible for all TYC institutions, halfway houses and contract-care facilities, he quickly clashed with TYC administrators over his efforts to expand the use of pepper spray and solitary confinement as ways of controlling unruly inmates.

Ms. Pope and Mr. Humphrey have defended the efforts to expand the use of pepper spray against inmates as a means of reducing injuries to TYC staff and inmates.

Within weeks of his hiring, Mr. Humphrey clashed with TYC administrators as he imposed policies that expanded the use of pepper spray and segregation of disruptive inmates, according to Teresa Stroud, superintendent at TYC’s Brownwood juvenile prison, and Jeffrey Berry, an assistant superintendent at the Mart juvenile prison until Mr. Humphrey transferred him to a TYC facility in Vernon - 270 miles away - in October.

“Administrators want to avoid conflict and interaction with Mr. Humphrey for fear he will move them to a remote location and displace their entire family," Ms. Stroud alleged Oct. 11 in her written grievance.

“Administrators are now tendering resignations, avoiding applying for promotions and asking for voluntary demotions just to avoid direct contact with him so they protect their livelihoods and keep their families intact,” she wrote.

This easily constitutes the most positive move so far by TYC's new conservator. Hopefully it's a harbinger of even more significant change to come.

MORE: From the Austin Statesman,

222 comments:

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Anonymous said...

11:30 - I agree, I am sure it's the same shit shakers as always. Some who no longer even work at the facility. They simply can't move on.

Kuddos to the hard at work staff that have to be tied into those negative attitudes everyday.

Anonymous said...

Now you all know what McFadden went thru and is still going thru. Some cant just move on.

Anonymous said...

Crockett was ripped to shreds and is now flopping in the wind...

Anonymous said...

OH TYC, HOW I DON'T MISS THEE!

Anonymous said...

Davis, take the advice of 10:34, get rid of all of them and build your own team. Although they may tell you to your face that they are not loyal to Freeman, they are lying. Most, if not all of them have regular communication with Freeman. Build your own team, Mike.

Anonymous said...

I agree, clean house, but watch your back when doing so. The last person CO told to do that, they stabbed in the back.


It's a jungle out there!!!

Anonymous said...

First off . . . I am one of those terrible TDCJ employees. I have worked directly for Ms. Gibbs (Crockett) and Mr. Humphrey (Gone) in TDCJ.

I laugh at those who try to compare Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Humphrey. They are two completely different managers. Mr. Humphrey is exactly as described on your board. Ms. Gibbs is the EXACT opposite.

Ms. Gibbs basically . . . CARES. If you have a problem with that, then send her back to us. Yep, Mr. Humphrey stole her away from us, but that does not mean that they are one and the same.

Ms. Gibbs was actually the TDCJ Assistant Training Director. I challenge anyone to call ***ANYONE*** associated with the TDCJ Training Department and try to get anyone to say anything negative about her. She was respected by everyone that she worked for.

Concerning what I have been seeing on here about her, I notice two things: 1. TYC staff who actually work for her - speaking up for her. 2. TYC staff who do not work for her - speaking against her.

Even a dummy from TDCJ can figure that one out.

Anonymous said...

okay, dummy, she is Billy's crony, and she like several others, (i.e. Bartush) never spoke up for what was right, but instead fell right in line with what Bronco was saying and doing, therefore, she is just as worthless and sorry as Bronco, and all ya'll dummies at TDCJ can have her back. Please take her sorry ass back.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

You better get Gibbs out of Crockett, too. (psst she is one of them).

Anonymous said...

Like I said . . . We'll take her back.

You can then figure out two things:

1. How YOU are going to fix YOUR problems. Remember, your messed up situation is what caused people to come in and try to fix it. Here's a little secret . . . IT AIN'T FIXED YET.

2. Next, you can figure out how to handle disruptive youth offenders that you can't gas or lock up in solitary confinement. I guess you can just beg them to be nice.

You speak out as if you have all the solutions. What you have is continued problems. NOTHING has been fixed . . . YET.

Yep, openly speak out for the FAIR managers to leave and what will you have left?

I can only think of ONE reason why a person would ask for that . . . AND I LAUGH.

I am on the outside looking in (Thank Gawd) . . . and you are right in the middle of it. For your sake (seriously), I hope you don't get what you are speaking out for.

Take care and stay safe.

Anonymous said...

I hope I get what I am asking for too, not a suck ass phony from TDCJ, but someone that will do what's right under any circumstance instead of bow down to the likes of fools (i.e Bronco). Have a Nice Day, and please come to Crockett and get the rest of ya'll's trash back to Huntsville.

Anonymous said...

Don't let this troll from Crockett fool you. Most of us here have been quite impressed with Ms Gibbs, despite her connections to folks we don't much like.

Anonymous said...

Speak for yourself 9:06, she is a terrible Asst. Supt., and would never have got the position if it wasn't for being buddies with Bronco and Pope. Everyone at Crockett knows her connections, but she does a good job of faking like she knows what is going on.

Anonymous said...

You're full of crap 10:22pm. She is one of the few people that helped hold us together during the Bluebell era. I personally admire her for doing the best she could under the circumstances under which she walked into TYC. We that work for her don't care what you think of her and I know she doesn't either. She is a great person and is willing to admit when she doesn't know something. She has great judgement and makes good decisions. She backs people who do the same. I don't care who she is friends with or who she used to work with.
Thanks 11:33am - but you can't have her back - we already love her and need her. (smile)

Anonymous said...

6:19,

You sound like Judy or Kathy (smile). Speak for yourself about working for her, I haven't seen her do much of anything since she has been at Crockett. We really held it together well while Jerome was here? STAR teams on the campus, dorms in chaos, staff hurt. Keep yourself planted in Administration where you belong in your fairy tale world, while the rest of us out here doing the work try to put up with an incompetent Bronco Billy butt-kissing
supervisor named Ms. Gibbs.

Anonymous said...

I have talked with many old hands at Crockett over the past few weeks. (Yes, there is an "old hands" network within TYC - people at low to mid-level who desparately want to see TYC get back into the saving kids business.) While none of them approve of the way Ms Gibbs got the job, all of them have good things to say about her. Their feelings about JW and Billy are a different story altogether.

Anonymous said...

Birds of a feather flock together. She is one bad decision away from all the "old hands" at Crockett turning against her. She is a Pope and Bronco crony. But then again most if not all of the "old hands" at Crockett are to foolish to see the truth. Watch what you wish for "old hands", you got it.

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:22, you pretty much confirmed what 9:41 said. Stay in Administration, you don't see what we see on the dorms. Ms. Gibbs can't make a decision, and the youth are not being held accountable. Someone is going to get hurt...again unless Davis can turn this thing around quick.

Anonymous said...

Did they call JW the UCB at Crockett like they do in CO? That's funny.

Anonymous said...

What's a UCB?

Anonymous said...

Is Bronco Billy back at TYC? Who knows how William Humprey will behave this time?

Anonymous said...

Don't want to be picky but why are
they ignoring a lot of things going on in corsicana/crtc.There are things in that facility that are kept quiet, because if you say anything you will be fired or setup to look like you have violated a policy that does not exist.Some of same things that occurred in west texas has and still does occur in corsicana, but
depends on what click you are in
and who you are sleeping with or has slept with.Try talking to some staff that are not afraid of there job and just might see that all of the tooth has not been pulled,,and you might see that tyc consevator missed the boat,,all goodby aren't gone and all closed eyes aren't sleep

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