According to the report by the Ombudsman's office (pdf), which was requested by state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, "today’s higher adult certification rates are a serious, unintended consequence of an otherwise well-intentioned legislative change that reduced the maximum age of TYC jurisdiction and control from 21 to 19."
The new trend is especially pronounced among defendants who commit crimes at age 16 but don't make it into court until after their 17th birthday:
Although 17-year-olds are ordinarily not eligible for commitment to TYC because of their age, the numbers above represent those children who committed crimes while under the age of 17, but appeared in court after their 17th birthdays. Under the pre-SB 103 rules, the youngest of these children could have spent nearly four years in TYC if sentenced under determinate sentencing scheme. Today, this time-frame has been effectively reduced by more than half, making determinate sentencing a much less attractive option for judges and prosecutors.The argument in 2007 for lowering TYC's maximum age for youth with determinate sentences was essentially twofold: It reduced the inmate population at a time when the agency was significantly understaffed, and it was supposed to reduce the chance that other youth at TYC would be victimized by the most serious offenders.
However, "Children serving sentences in adult prisons, as compared to children in the juvenile justice system, are five times more likely to be sexually victimized, eight times more likely to commit suicide, and twice as likely to be attacked with a weapon or beaten by corrections officers," said the Ombudsman.
What do you think: Should the Lege reauthorize TYC to house 19-20 year olds? I'm inclined to agree with the Ombudsman's recommendation, but am especially interested to see readers from juvenile justice fields discuss the pros and cons.
See this one-page summary (pdf) if you don't want to read the full report.
UPDATE/SUGGESTION: In the comments, juvenile justice historian Bill Bush makes the following, salient observation:
this is an area where we could learn something from the past.
In the 1940s, California and Texas both created state agencies (CYA and TYC, respectively) based on something called the Model Youth Authority Act, which was promulgated by a legal reform organization called the American Law Institute.
Ironically, though, both CYA and TYC ignored the key feature of the Model Act, whose original intent was to create a separate judicial and institutional system for "youthful offenders" between the ages of 17-21. Victimizers in the juvenile system, this age group became victims in the adult system. And rehabilitation proved nearly impossible in either system.
For a variety of reasons, states ignored this provision when they adapted the Model Act to their own situations in the 1940s, but it may be an idea deserving of reconsideration.
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40 comments:
This just goes to prove that the lege and the public were just being reactive without thinking things through. The problem is they've dismantled the agency so bad, TYC won't be able to accommadate the older youths. Pretty soon, even the younger offenders will have to be housed in adult facilities.
You know, Grits, this is an area where we could learn something from the past.
In the 1940s, California and Texas both created state agencies (CYA and TYC, respectively) based on something called the Model Youth Authority Act, which was promulgated by a legal reform organization called the American Law Institute.
Ironically, though, both CYA and TYC ignored the key feature of the Model Act, whose original intent was to create a separate judicial and institutional system for "youthful offenders" between the ages of 17-21. Victimizers in the juvenile system, this age group became victims in the adult system. And rehabilitation proved nearly impossible in either system.
For a variety of reasons, states ignored this provision when they adapted the Model Act to their own situations in the 1940s, but it may be an idea deserving of reconsideration.
Bill Bush
The biggest concern would be housing these youth and keeping them away (completely separated) from youth 18.11 and younger.
I would suggest a campus just for these youth with vocational trades and off campus abilities to get a job and learn skills. This would be difficult to accomplish when they are mixed with a younger population based upon coverage constraints. I would also suggest the 12-1 ratio be expanded with these youth to 15-1 and greater, immediate consequences if they became assaultive towards their peers or staff.
We have tried working with this age group before with dire consequences. These youth (young adults) can be extrememly violent, often causing substantial bodily injury before finally being transferred to TDCJ. If this allowance was made, I would suggest that it only pertain to sentenced offenders rather than to simply increase our maximum age back to 21. General offenders, Violent Offenders A&B should still, IMHO, have a maximim age in TYC of 19. This will allow 16 year old's with violent felonies to be given a "2nd chance" in TYC without allowing general offenders to become warehoused until their 21st birthday as was customary pre-SB 103.
Actually the model youth authority act was somewhat fulfilled with tdc fergusson farm, the gladiator farm. If you were a tyc kid you would go to clemmons farm. Prior to Mvt, Hilltop housed older Hispanic and White tyc inmates while Live Oak housed older black tyc inmates. The age was lowered to 18 and if you were 17 with no prior tyc you went to fergusson. So instead of a direct transfer from Terrace or Sycamore to Hilltop, you got to spend some time in the free world and then went to clemmens.
There are kids who need correcting. Although according to the statistics many kids whose local counties give up on and are sent to tyc need mental help and drug counseling. There should be a separate facility where kids can get mental health services coupled with life skills so that the kids could actually reenter the free world and be positively productive. The small number of kids 13 and older who actually, for real, need correcting, there needs to be a place for them. The key is in the classification which in my opinion should be handled by the referring county. Just not Bexar county lol.
The current tyc is a complete failure yet somehow by refactoring the agency to handle kids who could actually be helped with real working programs, it could turn things around. The most interesting part of the argument between the liberal hug a thug and the conservative lock um up forever is both sides have valid points, both actions are needed. Unfortunately today’s tyc is accomplishing neither one of those goals. Todays tyc is not allowed to do any correcting and they obviously are not qualified to fix kids either. This dilemma is IMO what makes our 120 year old child abuser institution produce statistics that make tyc emps look like a bunch of failures.
The clasificatin of tyc emps needs to happen as well. Those who are under qualified to work anywhere else that are willing to work for low pay and the benefit of taking out their pathetic life frustrations on those weaker than them, well then corrections. Whereas those who actually care about kids and are actually qualified, you might have to go outside tyc for that, pay them a fair salary and let’s make the last stop for a kid be someplace that is geared to actually help a kid. Corrections is easy divide the kids by age and house them appropriately. Actually corrections could be done with robots, which I understand the technology is available where the robot could be programmed with the psychological attributes such as covering there ignorance by being abusive to there charges, a noteworthy trait for corrections.
This juvenile justice stuff is not rocket science and if I were not aware of the operational retardation of the managing culture I would say that this should be easy. Again that’s the issue, you can’t have rural or affirmative action or sam hou educated social worker doing things they have no business doing like helping kids. It’s great for corrections, but helping, well 120+ years of juvenile justice in Texas says no it don’t help kids.
I wonder how much a campaign contribution would cost to get myself appointed executive director over the new juvenile justice program. Not to rape the state but to actually fix this problem. I’m thinking 2 years to refactor and then an additional year to train up my replacement, also someone who won’t rape the state. It’s a matter of public safety.
Sheldon tyc#47333
This is only one of the unintended consequences of SB 103 and yes the ombudsman is correct in his recommendation.
TYCs problem(s) has nothing to do with the stucture of the juvenile justice system. The problem has been piss poor management and adherence to administrative policies (or better development of admin. policies).
This is where SB 103 fails in that they address issues of structure and not management and policy.
This group of youth deserve a second chance, before going onto the adult system. But, TYC has demonstrated over and over, at its present form; staff and policy and management, it cannot function to serve any youth, let alone serve as a useful public agency. It had its chance and ruined everything. Move on with a complete change in management and most employees.
This should be a seperate "youthfull Offender" institute, kept seperate from the younger TYC population but not placed into the TDCJ adult population. Afterall, they were juveniles at the time of the offense and should be treated as such but keep them away from the 10-16 year olds.
We have to fix what we've got before we can accept another age group. I know they deserve a second chance, but the agency, my campus in particular is teetering on disaster. We have new administration today and STAR team presence again. We are seeing a level of incident we have not seen before - very serious injuries, etc. I wish someone would just pick a direction and stick with it. We are no closer to reform than we were 2 years ago.
What the "30.9% increase in a adult certification" doesn't tell you is that only 50 more kids were certified this year than last. Taking on an additional ~50 older kids will not place an onerous burden on TYC (because of grandfathering, it's still possible to find 20-year-olds at TYC facilities). But it would make all the difference in the world to the handful of children who are amenable to rehab and could thrive if given a second chance.
Remember - if TYC students become uncooperative or violent, TYC can always transfer them to the adult system. It's the ultimate "stick" that TYC has when it comes to managing kids on longer sentences.
Seems like a reasonable proposal with pretty limited scope.
Why can't the kids be housed by age on different dorms at any facility? For example, all 17 year olds live on Dorm A, 18 year olds on Dorm B, 19 year olds on dorm C...etc, etc. Makes sense to me.
TYC can't handle what they got now. Several TYC facilities are about to implode with all the chaos and the staff's inability to control the youth. Now they want to stick the 19 and 20 year olds back in TYC. Get ready for all hell to break loose. TDCJ-ID can't deal with the youthful offenders due to lack of manpower, resources, and the fear that they may be the next Agency accused of some type of abuse on a youth. Looks like the politicians, past Conservators, and TYC implants have really screwed the pooch on this deal. They've (under the abuse umbrella) successfully ran off, retired, or forced out the handful of employees that were the core staff at the facilities that had the knowledge and skills to work with the most difficult youth in the State. Additionally, they've gotten rid of evidence based programs (i.e. AMP, BMP, etc) that worked with the most dangerous youth and kept others safe. The handful of employees that remain that can work with the youth are too tired, scared they might loose their job, or just flat fed up with the BS to go on much longer and perform up to their standards. Good luck TYC, looks like they are reaching for the vaseline again...
I can't understand why more military style programs are not in place. Nueces County Bootcamp and Hays Couty Bootcamp have met with great success for adjudicated juveniles. Seems TYC could form similar type programs and house the older kids, maybe even entice them to join the military.
I can't understand why more military style programs are not in place. Nueces County Bootcamp and Hays Couty Bootcamp have met with great success for adjudicated juveniles. Seems TYC could form similar type programs and house the older kids, maybe even entice them to join the military.
Three things I can think of off the bat.
1. A military style facility encourages strenuous physical activity and drills that aren't the best forms of therapy for most kinds of offenders. You also must worry about employees and juveniles getting into a punitive, military mentality that's not kept in check. Juveniles are sometimes killed in boot camps because of a "no pain, no gain" mentality, and serious physical and mental warning signs are ignored in children who just can't "cut it."
2. It is not a healthy environment when you have an adult authority yelling at kids to follow orders throughout the day when most of these kids have spent their lives in angry, chaotic environments. They're not incarcerated for lack of screaming. They're often incarcerated after too much screaming, anger, and lack of genuine concern for their welfare.
3. Boot camps do not decrease recidivism in juveniles or adults. There aren't probational boot camps for adults in Texas because they don't work. Why do we have them for kids?
4:38 - You make it sound so simple and it USED to be. If a Sentenced Offender did not "work the program", the people who worked with him day in and out could make the recommendation to send him back to the Judge for transfer to the adult system. We did it periodically for the most violent kids. But most of the violent kids were NOT sentenced so our hands were tied. Now, all of the resources we had are gone - AMP, BMP, even behavior groups, for the little they were worth.
But now, it's so difficult to get the almighty folks at CO to support our recommendations, why bother. A 19 or 20 year old in TYC would have to commit another serious crime to be charged as an adult and even that yields a deferred probation in some cases and back they come to the campus.
Hell, with the conditions at our campus (small town in East Texas - hint hint) a kid has to practically hospitalize someone to even get a bed in Security.
To 7:30, is the issue that kids need to be punished more and isolated longer so they're out of sight, or does TYC need more programming specialists who can spend more intensive time with kids and pick up on stressor cues and talk with them personally, thus redirecting negative emotions into something constructive?
Maybe TYC needs smaller groups of kids so that the bad behavior of 1, 2, or 3 doesn't incite an uncontrollable large group of easily excitable kids.
Yes, TYC has problems. But the old bludgeon of isolation and sensory deprivation is not the "solution." It may seem comfortable and familiar, but comfortable and familiar never produced good recidivism rates, stable kids, or long lasting positive results.
To 6:28 - I don't think I gave an opinion about "the old ways" ie BMP, etc. In fact, they did in most cases provide isolation and a reprieve for staff and other kids on the dorms. But for so-called administrators, legislators, who-the-hell-ever to take away the old system and/or its components without replacing it/them with anything at all is so irresponsible, I don't even have words. Those decisions alone are the largest contributing factor to why the campuses are in the condition they are in today. You can ramble on and on about sensory deprivation and positive results, blah blah blah. But no one will ever convince me that TYC programming is better today than it was 2 years ago. Obviously I do not condone bludgeoning kids but I don't condone in any way the conditions that staff and students are in today either. There has to be a middle ground. I'm just afraid that the current TYC has missed too many opportunities to find that happy, effective median. Too many people in key positions, not to mention the politicians have their own agendas - agendas that have nothing to do with rehabilitating children and giving them sage places to stay during their chance at rehabilitation or giving staff safe places to work.
You are damn right some of these kids need punishment. They need punishment when they hurt someone or destroy a building. They need to know that there are consequences to their actions - that is the real world. Part of our responsibility to the kids and to society is to prepare them for the real world. Is it really fair to sit down and talk to a kid who just injured someone else? That's not what would happen to them on the street or in public school. They need firm fair and consistent action when they don't follow rules and in most cases the law. I'm all for talking and figuring out stressors but there has to be something behind it. We can talk and talk and talk and right now that's all we do and that's why kids are running the place.
9:24 - I guess you would feel the same if your child was on a dorm with another youth who constantly assaults others and constantly keeps your child from routine privileges or education? I bet you wouldn't be so concerned about sensory deprivation then. How long do we let others suffer while we counsel in order to identify his stressors?
1012...Its obvious to us that you believe in rough house rules to teach'em right. You are the type that brought hell to TYC with your I'll taech the right way methods. You need to move into the afult system or go to the oil fields. We don't need you watrching our youth.
"How long do we let others suffer while we counsel in order to identify his stressors?"
Why are you implying it's too "hard" to diagnose and treat a kid, especially in a smaller group, as I suggested? The properly qualified people need to be available to provide that service, as I already said.
Again, people keep defending isolation as though it worked, even though the mental health and caseworker staff necessary to treat kids in security were not available. The kids were being isolated to protect others, yes, but they have to be released at some point (and sometimes were not), and they will not be "better" unless there is available staff to provide them intensive treatment during that removal.
Why do people keep supporting punishment, as though that is what will work? Do you consider removing a child from the group and providing focused counseling and assessment during the removal "punishment?" If that is what works (rather than untreated isolation), why still opt for punishment and retaliation instead of fixing the problem? Is rehabilitating kids about breaking down mental health and emotional stability through deprivation of human necessities, or is it about helping them reach self realization through empathy and healthy relationships with other people so they don't WANT to hurt people? How does a child "learn" that in isolation and deprivation of attention, education, and counseling? They.do.not. Not every person in the world can be successfully treated, but I guarantee that no child is "fixed" by being in a small locked, cinderblock room for weeks with only their loneliness and anger as constant companions.
BMP and other acronyms may have "worked" on paper, but TYC did not have the people or services necessary to deliver the required services, so they did not, in fact, work.
Thanks 1036....For years TYC caseworkers, SSA's and mental assistants threw youth in isolation to get rid of the problem. They wasted away in those cold, locked rooms and learned nothing. They were only made worse by these 'counsellors', that made them throw away kids. They came back time after time since they learned nothing but crulty from TYC. Security is used as a first resort, rather than a last resort; for too many of employees convienence.
Sheldon,
Here is your chance.
You are always on tyc for the way they treat youth.
Find for corporate sponsorship for a pilot program to train these 17-21 year olds.
It is easy to sit back and talk about TYC but this is a chance to step up and make a difference.
A lot of these young adults could be turned around by a program like this but someone needs to take charge and make it happen.
You have a chance to change the life of the troubled youth.
Will you step up and accept the challange?
Leave Sheldon alone. He has no more responsibility to "fix" TYC than any single person working there, and it's not his job. Don't taunt former TYC kids as though they're not doing their part. It's not their role, and your comment is irresponsible.
Why is it not his responsibility?
Is he not a productive citizen who has a chance to change lives?
Who better to lead the way in fixing the problem than one of the former kids from the system?
Giving his a victim status for life so he doesnt have to take responsibilities is irresponsible.
Giving him a challange so he can make his life and the lives of texas youth better is the responsible thing to do.
Isn't showing these kids that we care and even the kids that make mistakes can over come them and help not only themselves but others what rehabilitation is all about?
11:37, why don't you do what you're telling Sheldon to do? Aren't you just as capable? Go find a corporate sponsor on your own.
Grits and all,
Thought the article posted below was relevant to this thread.
Bill Bush
From today's NYT:
January 29, 2009
Rikers Horror Story
New York City corrections officials have done a commendable job reducing the number of beatings, stabbings and other violent acts that have long plagued city jails. We are very concerned about recent events — including the death of an inmate — at the troubled youth facility at the Rikers Island jail. Clearly, the city needs to do a much better job of training and supervising corrections officers there.
Juvenile justice advocates and former inmates had been complaining about misconduct by the guards long before Christopher Robinson, 18, was found beaten to death in his cell last fall. They accused the guards of turning disciplinary responsibility over to roving gangs that beat, harassed and extorted money and valuables from other inmates. Some critics referred to the facility as a “gladiator school” where young people were encouraged to fight and damage one another.
The Bronx district attorney has now charged three corrections officers with conspiracy in connection with Mr. Robinson’s death. This is the second indictment of its kind at the youth facility in less than a year. According to the new indictment, guards used violent inmates to ride herd over others, sanctioned assaults on inmates and decided when, where and how they would take place. Prosecutors accused the guards of setting up a system of warning signals to protect gang members from being discovered when they administered beatings. They said the guards directed their “teams” to avoid hitting inmates in the face so that any injuries would not be readily apparent.
City corrections officials believe they can discourage misconduct by expanding the use of surveillance cameras. The indictments suggest the entire culture of the Rikers youth facility needs to be changed. That’s the only way to ensure these horrors are never repeated.
To 11:05/11:35 - It's always enlightening to see anonymous commenters talking about OTHER people stepping up and taking responsibility, especially when they're so full of good ideas they think OTHERS should work on, but they can't find the time. If you don't turn around right now and go do EXACTLY what you counseled Sheldon to do, as far as I'm concerned you're a friggin hypocrite, and I could use a few more choice words than that if I didn't know it would encourage the trolls.
Otherwise, stay on topic. And that topic is NOT taunting Sheldon or anyone else.
Bill B - that story indeed on point, thanks for sharing it.
And I agree with 4:38 that this is a reasonable proposal with pretty limited scope. I don't think it would overwhelm the system, and for once I hope the Lege will admit a mistake and correct the matter.
Play nice, folks.
2. It is not a healthy environment when you have an adult authority yelling at kids to follow orders throughout the day when most of these kids have spent their lives in angry, chaotic environments.
Actually, the environment is not angry and chaotic. It is very regimined and controlled, and ironically, kids from a chaotic background usually thrive in this. It gives them something solid to expect. The ones who actually LIKE the environent, are the ones who have been the most scattered.
Other than that, O do agree that there are kids who aren't made to cut an environment that physically demanding(the thought of the females who were in boot camp[several years ago..maybe 80's] who were breaking their own hips by running more than their bodies were made to, and this changed some of the rules awat from those that had been in place for both men and women)
All this talk about "Punishment" and "Isolation" makes me remember a panel survey in Dallas where 50 victims of crime ranging from Theft to Agg Assault were polled. 99% of tham stated they wanted the person who committed the act to be PUNISHED first and foremost and secondly rehabilitated. I know as juvenile professionals we look at it differently but put yourself in the place of a victim who just had his/her home broken into. You would want to see punishment delved out also, not acusive, but punished nonetheless.
So you think being sent to TYC in its current form isn't "punishment," 7:22? By what possible logic? I'll bet that same panel from Dallas would have thought being sent to a youth prison constituted "punishment." I doubt they were advocating flogging.
Otherwise, everyone who has watched this debate closely knows there was time not long ago before the creation of the OIG when some staff physically abused kids and management knew but routinely tolerated it (refute these stats if you want to deny it) and long-term isolation was (over)used near constantly. The result: TYC's three-year recidivism rate rose to almost DOUBLE TDCJ's - about 50% (it's less than 28% at TDCJ). So if that's what you mean by "punishment," it's been tried and didn't work.
I think it would behoove the complainers to stop pretending youth in TYC aren't being "punished," that's just silliness and has no place in a serious discussion of the fate of 19-20 year olds.
4:59
Housing youth by age sounds good, right up to the point you talk about youth being victimized by other youth. Youth who are victimized by others on one dorm are routinely moved to another for their protection and yes with sancions as they are, directed at the perpatrator. Or the dorm for the age group is full and the youth has to go to another dorm. The dorm by age soon breaks down and you would have a blending. We barely keep the younger youth dorm stable by age groups.
Ham2mtr
I do volunteer at both adult and youth facilities as well as work in a youth facility.
I am not asking sheldon to do something I dont want to do, I am asking him and others to join people like me in trying to change things for the better.
As for the age group thing, it souns good on paper but what happens when you have a dorm for 16 year olds and 3 are umder 5 foot because of neglect and 3 are over 6 foot.
You dont see that as a problem?
IMO we need to step back and look at the whole pitcher instead of knee jerking and making things worse instead of better.
Say we do the regional thing and have small groups all over.
Surely we still want the cameras so everything is out in the open.
Lets say dallas has 10 different small housing units.
Who keeps up with all the cameras?
When a camera goes down how long does the house have to get it repaired?
This is just 1 small thing, imagine what else needs to be worked out to make this happen.
I already stated I do what I am asking sheldon to do.
I have found sponsors for programs and I do get things for the youth and adults.
I didnt say it would be easy but shouldnt all the people who complain about the system do something to help if they can?
When was the last time you took a couple hours out of your day to come and counsel a youth and show them you really care?
That is easy to do, call any facility and they will be more than happy to make it happen.
8:29 - You are absolutely asking Sheldon to "do something I dont want to do." How do I know? Because you aren't doing it, and won't - you just offer complaints.
Now, I'll expect you to immediately go "Find corporate sponsorship for a pilot program to train these 17-21 year olds," since it's so easy and do-able. Put up or shut up.
Sorry, I'd removed my comment to edit a typo and 8:53 already replied.
That said, one notices that commenter is NOT going to go pursue the idea they suggested for Sheldon. All talk, as usual. Surprise, surprise!
Grits
Quit drinking Whitmire's Kool-Aid
To 11:05 that’s a great idea. There are several business in Dallas that have these types of programs. One dairy has pioneered hiring ex convicts to help them make a difference in their lives. Actually ex convicts make good worker because they have more to lose.
To 11:21 Its ok I’m already on it. It’s a long process to get civilized after spending time in a world where cruelty is the norms. I’m currently building a grass roots network of former tyc inmates for this very purpose. I’m finding that there are very few productive citizens who have experienced tyc that would like nothing more than to see tyc emps roasted on a spit by satan himself. So many former tyc inmates are in prison and simply dropped off the face of the earth. What are case numbers up to now 130,000, so there are at least 80,000 that could in theory be still alive. Talked to a man the other day with a 29,000 series case number. But of the few, those of us who know what it takes to overcome the effects of that hideous culture are coming together.
In the late 70’s Mountain View and then Hackberry what was supposed to be for the violent offenders but it was mostly boys the punks could not control in the other gatesville schools, 8 boys to a group, positive peer culture, ppc, the program was called. One of my pals from back in the day was executed by the state, coincidentally the day before my last child was born. Nicest kid you ever met, messed up home life from the 5th ward of Harris county. There was always more kids from Harris, mostly black, he was Latino. He escaped after I left and the punks sent him to Mountain View or Hackberry at the time. When he got out we hooked up but he wasn’t the same. It’s sad.
Any results of that program anyone is familiar with beside the result mentioned above regarding my pal Joe?
Bill, nice article, why would you think that fergusson was called the gladiator farm, and I hear it’s still called that today. The reason, so I was told by a tdc diagnostician why former gatesville boys don’t get to go to the gladiator farm is because we have already been there. That’s how the boss’ controlled 40 to 45 racially integrated boys in an open bay dorm. They would brag about the good ol days of racial segregation and holding a dorm of 80. There is an old wives tail that goes along the lines of the most scariest thing for a boss, tyc emp, is to run into a former state boy, tyc former student, in the free world. Because in the free world all bets are off and the abusive tyc emp behind the wall become the sniveling punk in the free. It’s been my experience that this is true when meeting them in person as well. This is why IMO, other than simple computer illiteracy, we see so many anon post by tyc emps on this blog. I have added the caveat that a well educated successful state boy is even more scary, or at least a source of animosity or perhaps envy. We know the truth behind the tyc curtain. We know how you tyc people think and there is nothing new under the sun but case numbers.
I’m hell bent on the notion of the ghost coming back to make things right, at least for some. All the so called experts will continue the 120 years political wrangling and tyc emps will continue the power play. It doesn’t matter if you send a kid to giddings or climmens your still going to have a bunch of dumb ass’ with a vindictive agenda trying to run a correction facility. Its big business. On the front end we have dumb ass people having kids they don’t want ending up in the clutches of overworked underpaid hall monitor types who dump the kids right and left in the court system. In turn the kids are then dumped to the correction system where people on the inside are doing everything they can to screw them up more. So all that’s left is the back end. This is where I think it takes someone/ some group whose done it to work with these kids to gain some very positive results. I don’t think you’ll find this written in a sociology book about troubled teens, because those books are not written by people who have lived it and are will to talk about it.
You tyc people know exactly what I’m talking about. It isn’t pretty but its reality, yesterday, today, and most likely tomorrow, with no reporter fluff that simply has an ax to grind with tyc. Facts are facts and you tyc people can’t keep us former state boys from talking about it now, loudly. You can’t solve the problem if you keep the symptoms hidden. Btw I left an email contact, so contact me.
Sheldon tyc#47333
oldschool@ironguardiansnt.org
Sorry guys I just wrote another damn book. Can you tell I’m passionate about this. I’ve served on boards and committees that have done some really cool things for people. This is the most rewarding work yet. Community organizer victims’ rights advocate that’s the kind of stuff that gets people elected to the presidency, I’ll settle for ed of tyc, I think its cheaper. LOL.
Sheldon tyc#47333 c/s
Grits and Sheldon are both full of shit - I will never read this blog again - both of you are idiots!!
How come you do not scrutinize Sheldon's comments like you do others - crap - all crap
"I will never read this blog again"
Promise?
Every TYC commenter with a complaint about this blog, please, PLEASE follow suit. I'm tired of the whining.
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