Saturday, October 30, 2010

'What did the TYC whistleblower claim?'

The Statesman's Eric Dexheimer gets to the heart of allegations against TYC by former administrative law judge Chris Koustoubardis in a blog post titled as above. I won't spoil the surprise, go read his account.
Posted by Gritsforbreakfast at 10:17 AM
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28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great news. As more of the truth about this hateful/corruptive agency comes out, the better for the citizens of Texas. The true abuse and mismanagement of this rogue commission has been covered-up and denied for several years. This agency has ruined many employee and youths lives and needs to be abolished! As one poster commented, there was more than 30-40% of folks that knew about and covered for the massive abuses, malfeasence and deception to the public. Hail "Raped by The State".

10/30/2010 12:03:00 PM
Jerri Lynn Ward said...

The individual who thought up the idea that ALJ's and Hearings Officers should be employed by the agency who is a party to a dispute was either foolish or disingenuous.

I'm not surprised one bit.

10/30/2010 12:23:00 PM
Anonymous said...

"Raped by the State" is the most expensive toilet paper you'll ever buy. Don't waste your money.

10/30/2010 05:49:00 PM
Anonymous said...

The criminal minds of TYC does not appreciate being exposed. Sometimes it costs lots of money in damages and cuts back on criminal employee raises. Tough. Suck it up or resign.

10/30/2010 06:19:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Hey - 549: Ever see those John Wayne toilet paper rolls? Someone made a ton and also got their goals met with the wipe paper.

10/30/2010 06:21:00 PM
Anonymous said...

What Did the TYC Whistleblower Claim?

Three weeks ago, a former administrative law judge for the Texas Youth Commission, Chris Koustoubardis, won a $700,000 judgment against the agency on his claim that he’d been wrongly terminated after he alerted higher-ups to unethical conduct he’d observed.

He claimed TYC superiors pressured him to rule certain ways in TYC parole revocation hearings.

“If true,” the report said, the allegations “would tend to prove that the due process rights of youth on TYC parole are regularly violated throughout the revocation hearing process.”

Note This: Another issue is when TYC employees testify in court seeking to have a youth transferred from a TYC facility to prison. This process could not stand close scrutiny. We might be surprised to learn who Central Office lets represent the agency in these court hearings.

10/30/2010 06:58:00 PM
Gritsforbreakfast said...

12:03 et. al., As of now, let's stop mentioning "Raped by the State" in every single TYC post - or really, in any comment strings on Grits at all. I'll be enforcing this by henceforth deleting all references pro and con. At this point this is just comment spam and I'm tired of it constantly diverting discussions. All Grits readers have heard about RBTS now. Please stop. For good. Seriously.

10/30/2010 07:01:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Due to the overall culture of TYC, procedures involving due process were often contaminated. That is, the culture of TYC is/was pervasive and due process hearings and procedures are not/have not been immune from that influence. This is an issue that has so far not been addressed.

10/30/2010 07:12:00 PM
Anonymous said...

All state agencies have their corruption. I think TYC has received more than its share of criticism. Our children will continue to be abused at all levels as long as we keep re-electing the same senators because they bring money to our regions.

10/30/2010 09:20:00 PM
Anonymous said...

I know that story may surprise you, but that's just business as usual when it comes to TYC in Austin. Another favorite trick they love to use is when a grievance is filed against an Austin administrator, the offending administrator himself gets to rule on the grievance. And, of course, after the grievance gets summarily dismissed, the grievant receives the standard letter stating "This grievance cannot be appealed."

Pretty neat, huh?

10/30/2010 09:32:00 PM
Anonymous said...

It really isn't worth filing a grievance against anyone in central office. It's pointless because they won't do the right thing.

Do what this judge did and sue their asses. Sue the agency and then the individuals. Start at the top and work your way down. Townsend should always be named because she's ED. If she were so stupid not too see the merits of this settlement, then she deserves to pay as well as she's not doing what's right for the taxpayer.

10/31/2010 08:59:00 AM
Anonymous said...

Grivances filed against supervisors in the field also go to that supervisor to be solved! No wonder field staff have no confidence in Austin elites that only cover each others butts. I once loved the agency but its time has come...close up and start with new employees and new administrators. As an exemption to the normal, in this case do throw the baby out with the dirty water. There is no other choice.

10/31/2010 11:27:00 AM
Anonymous said...

A long overdue ban Grits. Thanks!!!

Everyone please express your appreciation for the end of the Raped by the State Drive by's.

10/31/2010 09:18:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Yes, I too agree. Lets open even more the sorry, daily activities of the worst state agency in existance. Now, no one to offset the scum that makes TYC move forward each day and undermine real youth care in Texas. Yes, a real move forward for opressors and youth abusers.!

10/31/2010 09:46:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Hey, Grits. Did you just muffle justice and endorse the bad folks? I wonder about your intentions, and views sometimes??

10/31/2010 10:19:00 PM
Gritsforbreakfast said...

Please don't, 9:18, just stop talking about it.

9:46/10:19 - Go to hell, and take your POS book with you.

11/01/2010 05:07:00 AM
Anonymous said...

I hope a lot more whistle blowers will come forward and more people start to listen to these things this wretched agency does to these kids. I despise what this agency has become in the last 30 years, an employment safe haven for generationally accursed sexual predators. If people don’t start taking action these kids will continue to be violated by the state agency tyc and never have a chance at healing.
Sheldon tyc#47333 II c/s

11/01/2010 04:26:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Another issue that remains in this case regarding what Mr. Koustabardis claimed was the fact that the person in question, Kaci Sohrt continued to do this to at least one of the other ALJs. Her behavior has been reprehensible and she should be reported to the State Bar of Texas for her behavior regarding her disregard for the rules of evidence. Additionally, other supervisors who were/are in the TYC General Counsel office have done nothing to address this problem, though they have known about it and encouraged it and Ms. Sohrt was allowed to continue plying this behavior of "pre-determining" level one hearing rulings by coaching witnesses, telling ALJs how to rule, etc. The agency could receive other whistleblower cases as a direct result of her disregard for the rules of evidence.
It remains unclear why TYC has in its employ people to "hear TYC cases" and determine if a TYC youth will be returned to a TYC facility or contract facility of high restriction due to alleged parole violations. Why doesn't SOAH or some other impartial agency hear these cases?
In other cases in which a TYC youth's best interests are determined regarding placement into or continued placement in even medium restriction TYC facilities, the agency uses ALJs from the State Office of Administrative Hearings to specifically avoid any possibility of being seen as not being impartial to a youth's best interests.
TYC youth were repeatedly returned to facilities during these level 1 hearings in many instances contrary to what common sense would dictate. I have seen cases in which youth with less than four months remaining on their cases were returned to high restriction facilities to essentially finish out the maximum time remaining on commitment orders because parole could not handle the youth. The level one hearing process has for a long time been used to essentially manage parole and halfway house caseloads. In many instances youth did commit additional illegal acts and it was reasonable to place them into a higher level of restriction; however these decisions should be made only if it is in the best interest of the youth and the community to do so. Frankly a UA dirty for marijuana does not seem to meet that standard when there are outpatient programs to specifically address adolescent substance abuse that could be tried first. Many of the TYC youth would have better outcomes of the TYC parole program were strengthened. Since the agency has never bothered to really do that, they have used the level one process to just place them back into facilities and "treat" them there. We can all see how well that has worked out. - Aunt of TYC youth

11/01/2010 08:27:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Sheldon and others, one of the main reasons that more people do not come forward and are not seen as whistleblowers is due to the way the agency handles grievances and other reports of bad employee behavior that is brought to the agency's attention.

There have been at least four employees that have reported the agency using funds in the Education department in a manner not consistent with agency policy or worse even with federal education funding law. Other types of restricted funds such as Title IV-E funds and other federal educaton funds have also been mishandled. The agency essentially uses the federal funds to pay for whatever it wants and then at the end of the year will move funds from other areas back to the federal parts of the budget to cover up what was happening during the year, leaving whatever area it took the funds from woefully short.
For example, there is an education admnistrator in Central office
(who is still there) who was paid out of Title I funds for over a year. Her position was not eligible to be funded from this funding source. This error was brought to senior education staff as well as financial staff members' attention and it was covered up. Two other co-workers also said something and even printed out and took the restrictions rules to members of management. Aftercare treatment programs for years were paid for by Title IV-E reimbursements and Title Iv-E Administrative Claims despite the federal statutes expressly requiring that the funds be used for basic care expenses and not aftercare treatment programs. For several years TYC stated in staff training materials that the funds collected for Title IV-E kids helped pay for aftercare services. This information was taken several times to the most senior levels of financial management at TYC to no avail. The OIG does not have the staff with the expertise to do a financial audit and see the problems, because you would literally have to see spreadsheets over a period of time and see the actual transfers on paper. The State Auditor's Office has been told of these concerns but to my knowledge, nothing was really done. By the time they came, TYC had already moved the money around to cover the mess up. I left and was able to get a different job because I had concerns and took my concerns to my supervisor and was told that was none of my business. For a period of time I was asked to work on the budgets for both of these departments and left when I saw what was going on. I knew that what they were doing was not right. I reported my concerns and nothing was done. I reported higher, nothing was done. One thing that has to be remembered is that it is not really in any state agency's interest to keep finding problems with another state agency. Honestly I think that is why the State Auditor's Office was not able/willing to really investigate. That and the fact that most people are not lawyers and are not clear about what constitutes the evidence to prove a whistleblower case too. I am glad that Mr. Koustabardis was able to prove his case, but most employees do not have any where near the earning power of an attorney to stay with a case like this.
I have a wife and three kids and determined it was better to move on to a better job than to try to be a hero. I did report my concerns and have documentation that I did it, but that doesn't mean anything in an agency like TYC.

11/01/2010 10:28:00 PM
Anonymous said...

10:28
The reason people don't come forward at TYC is because the local chieftain has, over the years, run off all those who were troubled by the corruption. He has surrounded himself with loyal liars who deny any and all allegations. The new regime in Central Office either doesn't understand this or else is comfortable with it.

11/02/2010 10:33:00 AM
Anonymous said...

As long as people continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed by tyc against the children, not only the children but the employees and the tax payers will continue to be violated by this rouge state agency. When these kids are released the things they have learned from this wretched agency will prevent them from having any chance of making it in the free. Something has to stop this state agency from violating these kids or they will never have a chance.
Stop the rape by the state and give these kids a chance.
Sheldon tyc#47333 II c/s

11/02/2010 01:23:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Sheldon -

I agree with you regarding people turning a blind eye and doing nothing. Texas legislators will need to actually ask about some of the issues raised though in order to get any change. I was the one who reported last night at 10:28 and did report to my supervisors and then to the state auditor's office. I am not sure who else to report concerns to that can do an adequate or any investigation. I just pray that the youth and tax payers of Texas write to their legislators and push them to do something to get rid of this rotten mess. As my dad used to say you can spray paint a t*** gold, but that doesn't make it anything other than SH**. Thanks for writing your posts.

11/02/2010 05:27:00 PM
Anonymous said...

lets not forget how many people were raped by the boys and girls in TYC.

11/07/2010 05:06:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Sorry I am stupid, but what is ALJ's???

11/09/2010 12:37:00 AM
Anonymous said...

A comment: The TYC Review Panel for the youth scheduled to be released is also using the same tactics and keeping General Offenders and less aggressive youth more than they should. If a youth uses a swear word they will get 3-5 more months.

11/09/2010 07:16:00 AM
Anonymous said...

If a kid completes the program, then he or she doesn't need a review by the panel, so there's more than what your saying. More than likely, there's a rehabilitative need and/or he or she is doing something that presents a risk to the community. If the latter is true, then he or she should stay until that risk subsides, no matter how long that may be.

11/09/2010 11:30:00 AM
Anonymous said...

To 11/09 @ 7:16
Where do YOU work?
Thats definately not true where I do. They swear at staff all the time and get nothing for it. Certainly not more time...

11/09/2010 04:53:00 PM
Jay said...

LOCK THE ASSHOLES UP TYC AND DON'T LET'EM OUT UNTIL THEY ARE RESCOCIALIZED. SORRY, WE MISSED THE BOAT ON THAT ONE.

11/13/2010 01:17:00 AM

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