Monday, July 22, 2013

TJJD staff say Corsicana unit, two juvie halfway houses on chopping block

UPDATED/CORRECTED: This post was updated July 22 with information from a conversation with Jim Hurley from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. He wanted Grits to iterate that the decision to close the Corsicana unit was being made directly in response to Rider 35 in the new state budget which prohibits the agency from expending money on more than five secure facilities after January 1st. Along with that mandate, they cut TJJD's budget by $23 million, he emphasized, so some unit had to close. Corsicana was chosen in part, he said, because the unit needs the most upkeep and  rehab. The board must forward its recommendation to the Legislative Budget Board by September 1st, so their final recommendation could be made either on July 26, as reported by The Corsicana Sun, or at the board's August meeting.

Updated Original Post: Grits recently received several emails from front-line employees at Texas Juvenile Justice Department facilities about pending closures at two halfway houses - the Beto House in McAllen and the Turman House in Austin and the Ayres House in San Antonio - and the mental health unit in Corsicana. There had already been an earlier report that the Corsicana facility would be shuttered by Jan. 1, 2014, but I hadn't seen news of halfway house closures reported before now. TJJD held a board meeting on July 15 where they discussed closing the Corsicana unit and the agency is reportedly scheduled to finalize the decision by the end of the week, on Friday, July 26. One of Grits' informants via email declared that, "Beto house is confirmed, Corsicana is supposed to be closed but we heard from Griffiths himself that people are protesting Corsicana's closure and it may not go through."

Employees were notified on Monday morning that Turman House in Austin would be closed. Jim Hurley said that decision was made because, with Travis County sending fewer kids to institutions, fewer kids are returning and thus the need for a halfway house diminished. Hurley seemed more sanguine than Grits readers that the board would stick by its recommendation to close Corsicana. He also confirmed the Beto House closure, pointing out there are two other TJJD halfway houses in the Valley to serve that area.

Grits asked Hurley specifically what would happen to mentally ill kids presently housed at Corsicana. Are other facilities prepared to handle them, I asked - are there sufficient mental health resources, personnel, etc., at the other units? Hurley said there are "several options" on which he declined to elaborate and a "number of factors" which he did not name. "We do have some options under consideration that are not fully developed and that the agency is not ready to discuss," he said. Suffice it to say, even when pressed off the record, any current plans for how to plug that gap in services are sketchy and preliminary at best. Mike Griffiths and crew had better be rapidly working on a better solution than "we're figuring it out," which is the essence of the response I got. He did say the agency is not currently considering  privatization for that population, which is good news as long as it lasts.

Few if any reporters attend TJJD board meetings anymore now that the 2007 sex scandals have subsided - usually none if the Statesman's Mike Ward doesn't go - and in fact the only press account I've seen of last week's meeting was from Janet Jacobs at the Corsicana Sun. She did not mention the halfway houses but corroborated staff reports that the final decision on the Corsicana unit is still pending. Her latest story concluded, "The LBB has final approval of any changes, and a recommendation from the TJJD has to be given the LBB by Sept. 1. The TJJD board is expected to vote on a recommendation on July 26. Any closures have to be done by January 1, 2014." Grits emailed TJJD's media manager Jim Hurley for more details on pending closures and to request a copy of the evaluation mentioned in this article recommending the Corsicana Unit's closure. I'll update this post when I get them. MORE: Here's a link to the brief evaluation, which provides only a handful of bullet points regarding pros and cons of closing various units.

Rumors swirled for months that Corsicana could be on the chopping block, so this comes as no great surprise. But IMO if they're going to close another large unit it should probably be Evins. Despite repeated interventions, those folks can''t seem to pull their act together. Plus, the Corsicana unit presently is where TJJD keeps mentally ill juvenile inmates. Maybe the agency is prepared to provide those services elsewhere (they'd better be), but it's not obvious to me that's the case.

UPDATE (7/24): See the Texas Tribune's coverage.
The LBB has final approval of any changes, and a recommendation from the TJJD has to be given the LBB by Sept. 1.  The TJJD board is expected to vote on a recommendation on July 26. Any closures have to be done by Jan. 1, 2014. - See more at: http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x596947851/State-hears-Corsicana-s-appeals-on-treatment-center-closure#sthash.uT4Nl5ue.dpuf
The TJJD announced earlier this month it planned to close the facility.
Local leaders are addressing the TJJD staff at today's public hearing being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin.
Transcripts from today's public hearing will be presented to the full TJJD board at its meeting on July 26, when a final decision on recommending its closure is expected.
- See more at: http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x596947489/Testimony-underway-in-State-Home-public-hearing#sthash.5PfiyrUx.dpuf
The TJJD announced earlier this month it planned to close the facility.
Local leaders are addressing the TJJD staff at today's public hearing being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin.
Transcripts from today's public hearing will be presented to the full TJJD board at its meeting on July 26, when a final decision on recommending its closure is expected.
- See more at: http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x596947489/Testimony-underway-in-State-Home-public-hearing#sthash.5PfiyrUx.dpuf
The TJJD announced earlier this month it planned to close the facility.
Local leaders are addressing the TJJD staff at today's public hearing being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin.
Transcripts from today's public hearing will be presented to the full TJJD board at its meeting on July 26, when a final decision on recommending its closure is expected.
- See more at: http://corsicanadailysun.com/local/x596947489/Testimony-underway-in-State-Home-public-hearing#sthash.5PfiyrUx.dpuf

28 comments:

Billy R. Hollis said...

As I stated in a previous post, Evins will never change until Central Office realizes that the so called "outstanding leadership team" there is the cause of all the problems. Getting out from under the DOJ Agreed Order and achieving ACA accreditation should have been the beginning positive change at Evins. But as soon as the heat was off, they slipped right back into the quagmire of corruption and abuse that got them in trouble in the first place, back in 2006. Numerous times, attempts were made to fix Evins. Various studies were commissioned and problems were identify (i.e. the Moss Report), but those studies and reports were filed away and none of the recommendations were ever implemented. People were brought in to run the facility, but they soon came to realize that anyone working there who wasn't from the Valley was harassed and eventually run off because they didn't "fit in" with the culture. When I came to Evins in January 2009, I was supposed to work with the Superintendent for a week to see if we could work well together. I had worked with the Superintendent before and had a good working relationship because I was an outsider who could not possibly relate to or fit in to the Evins culture. Finally, after four months of trying to unsuccessfully to find someone else (no one in their right mind wanted to come to Evins), my one week trial period ended and I was officially transferred. I lasted two years. During that time, I was reported to Central Office more times than I can count, had numerous grievances filed against me, was reprimanded twice and received a negative fitness report. I figured the next step was termination, so I opted to retire. The rest is history. Should Evins be closed? Unless the powers that be are willing to do what is necessary to fix it, the answer is unequivocally yes.

Anonymous said...

You are right on the money grits. Evins has been a headache since the day it opened. But the problem is that *Chuey* character always putting in his two cents and it stays open. It once was running great when they made the decision to spread those valley kids around but it turned for the worse when people started complaining they couldn't see their kids and then all the valley kids came back. It's like taking the gangs off the street and confining them in their backyard. They all know each other and their activity went from the streets into that facility. It's just unsafe.

Anonymous said...

Evins days are numbered. Austin has never made any decisions that made sense. They close facilitys that are succeeding the the youth, yet keep the ones that have the most problems. If evins was safer to work at, maybe the good employees will not quit as much as they do.

As far as the original article it seems the closure of the halfway house's were a secret. Comment was made about corsicanna, but there was no mention of any halfway house's when she was asked. The big question is what are they hiding in Austin, why the secret closures? Why refuse to talk about it when asked by grits?

Anonymous said...

Corsicana is on the chopping block because it would cost entirely too much money to renovate it and bring it up to code.
Anyone who has ever stayed there can tell you how overrun with insects and broken down the campus is.
And if that unit is supposed to provide mental health treatment, how is it that youth actually getting better after being placed there is such a rarity?
It has been proposed that the staff and youth at Corsicana would be moved to Mart orientation and Ron Jackson in Brownwood would become the new intake and orientation.
While Evins has it's problems, it has too big of a role to play in the corrupt system that exists in south Texas where drug cartels do
their thing while judges look the other way while they do.
Should Evins be closed?...Of course...Will it be closed?....Doubtful.

Gin said...

TJJD has never acted proactively-always reactively- to whatever the crisis of the day is.They have no vision of where they would like the agency to go in 10 years, 15 years or 20 years. They have no concept of their population. Most people don't if they don't work with current TJJD youth. They say they have less money but they want to spend several million to upgrade Ron Jackson to handle both boys and girls, far away from major populations centers where the youth actually live.This will require spending money the the agency doesn't have to make use of facilities that should be abandoned anyway.We have a perfectly good set up a fairly close to Texas' major population centers. We can handle the addition of the CRTC kids there as well.LBB needs to use some common aense when dealing with TJJD, because they sure haven't any common or fiscal sense. I as a taxpayer am outraged at some of the proposed expenses: renovate Ron Jackson to accomodate both boys & girls (young men & women) close down dorms at Mst so that the mental health kids can be in separate quarters-which could be done by erecting a fence and leave orientaion/intake alone. It will be cost consuming to move intake to Brownwood & have to train all the necessary staff to do what Mart Intake does,not to say expensive renovations will have to be done to keep the youth from each other.Ask some of the front line staff who give their all to the agency, only to be treated as expendable.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it kind of easy to make the argument that the agency is too reactive and not proactive enough when the counties can't seem to make up their minds as to whether or not they should send youth to TJJD?
Sometimes counties send youth to TJJD for the first offense....And sometimes they wait until they have violated probation on multiple occassions before they consider sending youth to TJJD.
I'm all for holding the agency accountable. But there are other factors to consider here.

Anonymous said...

What about Cottrell in Dallas. It has been disfunctional since the Supt retired in 2012. What a shame.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Griffiths has always been fair in making these tough decisions. Let's face it the LBB screwed this department with the blessing of the legislature and Mr. Griffiths is under the gun to make tough decisions. TJJD is running better, at least on our facility end, than it ever has. I believe the decisions made are the appropriate one. Just remember, Brownwood used to be a intake facility years ago.

Anonymous said...

I've always wondered why Evins was allowed to run wild, especially after so much came out in 2006. Who ordered the hands-off policy towards this rogue facility. What's the answer, Chuey?

Anonymous said...

Those who know the truth about Evins aren't talking--some things never change. Evins is a reflection of the culture of the Valley.

Anonymous said...

First Giddings, now Evins. First Townsend, now Griffiths. Seems like the former TYC employees are never happy. Get a life ya'll.

Anonymous said...

Post earlier best said it, house gang members in their back yard.....valley culture is not Evins , it is more like Mexico border towns.....

Anonymous said...

Cant compare Griffiths with ANY previous ED. Far and above the rest.

Anonymous said...

3:31 you are EXACTLY correct. The entire time I have been with TYC/TJJD no one has ever communicated to us things that are going on in our agency they way Mr. Griffiths has. He is head and shoulders better than anyone before him. Some of his staff may be a little shaky but can't win them all.

Anonymous said...

The better decision would have been to close YorkHousbe since they have been unable retain staff. They have an extreamly high turn over rate and a low population count. York House was temporarily closed recently and sent the youth to other location due to the inabilty to meet tjjd guidelines. Cottrell is in the samr situation and do not a superintendent and assistant superintendent. Why close a Beto House who has a fully staff, works together, has low turn over, no over time, no staff sick calls. TJJD Board needs to look and preformace no just there are two halfway houses in the valley.

Anonymous said...

If they considered performance York house would be rated the highest performance simply due to TJJD likes to keep non-functional failures working with the youth. Case of Evins, Connections, Cottrell, list goes on. Front line staff knows, austin does not have a clue....

Anonymous said...

Question? What happens when they close these facility's and there is an increase in the youth population? Next year there will be more cut backs, what facility's are next on the cutting block? Did anyone in Austin get a pay raise during this session or planning on it in the next like Townsend and cronies did in her tenure?

Anonymous said...

Seems to me, if "they" such as the Legislature said funding would be provided for 5 institutions, as an agency, they would be looking at "which" five are the "top" to be kept and anything outside of the five institutions would be gone by the wayside. Why as an agency who now only can house the worst of the worst would there be a need to have anything but an institution? Visibly from the point the population "type" was changed, the total population coming to the agency has dropped significantly - might even be "half?" so why then soooo many beds? and "empty" beds on top of that? While youth are on waiting list at the county level. How can the juvenile agency justify any facility that is housing more staff than it does kids at any facility? What tax payer would want to be funding this? When TDCJ is having to close facilities too that serve far more beds/inmates ratio wise to staff than TJJD and our Public Schools are needing to add more kids to the classroom? Imagine what a great education system we could have in public education, if you had a private instructor for every kid in the classroom - maybe not teacher certified, but plenty of these kids in our public schools might excel - then not get into trouble, if they had a personal mentor or "guide" at their side etc.

Anonymous said...

If they leg REALLY wanted to save money, they would close ALL the institutions, rent one of the TDCJ units that hold 2000 (which most do). Everyone would be at the same location. They could save MILLIONS vs. having to keep 5 institutions open. You cant believe the savings. There they could have all the treatment needed, intake, specialized programs, etc. As a taxpayer, why dont they do this???

Anonymous said...

The agency is really wasting a lot of tax payer money here. Moving assessment to Brownwood? Harris county the biggest contributor of commitments will love taking their youth two hours further for intake processing. Mental Health youth at McLennan, nice therapeutic environment there (razor wire, correctional housing plant). The agency has leadership in place in that division that can't get along with other chiefs and facility leadership that doesn't know much about operations or leadership. It might seem quite but that is because no one knows what to look for. Give it time this is an IED yet to be detonated.

Anonymous said...

I agree with nothing has ever made sense except, the rich keep getting richer on those tax dollars... the agency, the state, etc. makes sure that they are giving it away continuously, such as in the form of rent, excessive paid people on payroll who do "who knows what" and only when prompted - CO remains top heavy, they never cut beds in line w/the population drop. Plus, someone claimed 19 in Halfway Houses, that is not so and what they receive at that level in opportunities is questionable and for what purpose? The youth hate it all and are unwilling when you have youth adults on the street. State money would be better spent in our schools on prevention. And House these kids until they have ran their frontal load growth cycle and when done, then attempt to truly teach them, because only then will they be teachable.

Anonymous said...

Even if each halfway house actually had 19 youth beds filled, they all staff over 20+ people.

Anonymous said...

We get excited at the prospect of closing prisons, at closing juvenile correctional facilities, and at closing half way houses. We get so excited that we welcome them back into our neighborhoods so they can...what? So they can do their thing and terrorize our neighborhoods, dominate our neighborhoods, recruit our 10-year-olds and keep the criminal culture going strong?

Anonymous said...

Tjjdhas to feed the pig...that is the reality here...been at it for years

Anonymous said...

So sad. These so called decisions makers can't understand what they are shuffling around are kids, in need of help. Furthmore, the kids that CSH was the only home they know. What do they plan to do on their behalf? Destroy what they knew as home?

Anonymous said...

Hats off to all the hard working JCO! You work hard and succeed where most people would rather make a negative comment that helps none. JCO continue to work with our less fortunate kids! God will bless your efforts. Evins, Corsicana, Ron Jackson, Giddings, Gainesville and Mart continue to work hard. Do not allow negativity to exit your mouths. Encourage and motivate each other. Don't tear at each other. - old TYC dog.

Anonymous said...

Hollis, you were a great Super. I wish you were still there.

David Davis said...

Institutions now are more unsafe than they have been in 20years.There is a lack of the type of training that staff need to taught on a daily basis. OJT,Proper Interpersonal Communication Skills and a Behavior Management program that compliments the Treatment program. Staff work on a daily basis having to use survival skills because a stable program is not available for them to use. I hear that the agency wants to teach a modified version of the old Behavior Management program. Who is left in the agency to teach the program?Does the agency realize all that is needed to get this type of program off the ground?1.A team of people that are willing to train long hours and doing follow up at all the agencies to ensure that the program is being trained to all staff appropriately.Traineers will have to train the staff themselves until they are able to stand on their own two feet. The first thing that has to be taught is OJT. All staff have to trained to follow the OJT manual to a tee. JCO VI's need to be held accountable to train dorm life staff on OJT.Praying that things work out.