Grits for Breakfast

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Should counties record attorney-client jail calls?

Should prosecutors get to listen to inmate's calls from jail with their attorneys? It seems antithetical to the idea of attorney-client privilege, but some think it's okay, at least in Hunt, Collin, Denton, Rockwall, and other counties, according to the Dallas News ("Hunt county not alone in listening to inmate phone calls," Sept. 15).

Despite Williamson County DA John Bradley's adamant defense of the practice (he said jailed inmates have "no expectation of privacy"), I think most attorneys would agree with the lawyer who called that claim "crazy." And yet, apparently the practice is widespread, though thankfully not ubiquitous.

I can see a lot of problems with this. For starters, I wonder who such recordings are shared with? The Sheriff's Office runs the jail, so they're in the loop. Usually there's a vendor running the phone system who'd have access. They shared the information with prosecutors in the Hunt County case, but deputies could just as easily have acted independently based on information obtained through privileged conversation and claim it resulted from their investigation. Who would ever know?

For that matter, are prosecutors' calls to informants in the jail taped, and if so are those discoverable by the defense? I wouldn't think so, but then what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Maybe some uppity defense lawyer who finds themselves with the right set of facts needs to try to find out!

What do you think? Is it ethical for counties to record attorney-client jail calls, and have you ever heard of this aggressive practice elsewhere?

BLOGVERSATION: Simple Justice says that signs in the jail do not trump constitutional rights.

Friday, September 14, 2007

'Tangos' vs. Prison Gangs: Power in numbers

Overcrowding and understaffing at Texas prisons has forced inmates to devise their own safety solutions in response to prison gang violence, reports Patrick Brendel at The Back Gate. A fascinating development to counter gang power in the last 20 years has been the creation of "tangos," or non-gang affiliated, regional-based self-protection groups. A "tango" is

is a “hometown clique,” [TDCJ gang specialist Sigifredo] Sanchez said — “homeboys, people that fall into our system who come from the same geographic area.”
Prisoners are pressured to join established gangs, involving a lifelong commitment or to seek protection elsewhere from those gangs, he said.
David Stacks, criminal justice department deputy director for management operations, said prisoners naturally gravitate toward others with common interests or backgrounds — much like how high school students form social groups.
Starting about 15 or 20 years ago, prisoners, originally from Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston, banded together for protection from security threat groups, calling themselves the “Four Horsemen,” [TDCJ Special Investigation Unit Sgt. Javier] Leyva said.
The Four Horsemen became known as “Tangos — an old Hispanic expression meaning hometown,” Sanchez said.
Tangos are more attractive to most prisoners than security threat groups, because members are not bound to the group once released from prison. Also unlike security threat groups, tangos do not have hierarchies, officers or a constitution, he said.
Leyva said that, at most, a tango would appoint a spokesman to be the voice of the group at a particular facility.
Tangos formed in West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. These two tangos, plus the original four, sometimes support one another and are collectively known as “Puro Tango Blast,” he said.
Other tangos include prisoners from San Antonio and El Paso. With only about 8 to 10 percent of prisoners in security threat groups, Stacks said, tango members quickly outnumbered traditional gang members.
“There’s a lot of strength in numbers — a lot of power,” Leyva said.
So much power, that security threat groups across the state have declared truces amongst one another in order to present a unified front against the tangos, he said.
According to Sanchez, one important factor to the formation of tangos was overcrowding in the state prison system.
Instead of the normal two months or less, offenders on their way to prison would stay six months to a year or more in county jails, where security threat groups didn’t have a strong presence. Prisoners would carry with them relationships formed in county jails to the prison system, he said.

Read the rest at The Back Gate. UPDATE: A commenter points to this recent Houston Press story about tangos.

Coming Soon: Dallas County's DNA Exoneration #14

So says Texas Monthly's Mike Hall.

Feds sue over Dallas jail healthcare: 'If people treated animals this way, they would be prosecuted'

Who couldn't see this coming a mile away? The feds have sued Dallas County over poor health conditions in the jail, reported AP yesterday:

Federal prosecutors allege in a lawsuit that inmates at the Dallas County Jail are at risk of harm because of unsafe jail conditions and a lack of proper health care.
The U.S. Attorney's Office asked the court to require Dallas County to take actions to correct deficiencies at the jail, among the largest complexes in the country. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the federal government contends Dallas County and Sheriff Lupe Valdez have known about problems at the jail for some time but have failed to address them adequately.

By failing to fix the inadequacies, the rights of the inmates were violated, the suit said.

"Through the acts and omissions...Defendants have exhibited deliberate indifference to the health and safety of Dallas County Jail inmates," the suit said. The federal government says court action is necessary to effect change. ...
Federal officials contend the jail hasn't provided adequate medical and mental health care to inmates and hasn't ensured a safe and sanitary environment for detainees, the lawsuit contends.

"This problem has been simmering and festering for at least 10 years," said David Finn, a Dallas attorney and former judge.

Earlier this year, county officials approved a nearly $1 million settlement with the families of three mentally ill inmates who were denied medication while in the jail. A little more than half of the award went to James Mims, a jail inmate whose psychiatric medications were withheld for two months in 2004. Mims nearly died when water was shut off in his cell for two weeks, said Finn, who represented the inmate.

The problems aren't just in dealing with mentally ill inmates, but also extend to people who require medication, such as diabetics, said Finn.

"We're talking about basic health care. If people treated animals this way, they would be ... prosecuted," he said.

A federal report sent to Dallas officials in December said the jail violated the constitutional rights of inmates by failing to provide adequate medical and mental health care.

A separate report from February 2005 found that lapses in medical care in the Dallas County jail system resulted in undetected illnesses, excess costs and risks to the public.

The only thing I find puzzling is why it took the feds this long to sue? A year and a half ago we already knew that "For every month spent in the Dallas County Jail, you're more likely to get a staph infection (~3.4% chance) than you are to hit 'snake eyes' when playing craps in a Vegas casino (~2.77%)." As I asked then, "Wanna roll the dice?"

Well, roll the dice is exactly what the Sheriff and Dallas County Commissioners Court chose to do. The result was worsening problems that caused a tax increase. And it's not just health care, but overcrowding and overall management. They occasionally just lose people in the jail. The feds issued their own criticisms jail healthcare in December, and already have monitors at the Dallas jail.

Incidentally, last year as complaints mounted, the Sheriff transferred responsibility for Dallas jail healthcare from UTMB-Galveston to a local provider, Parkland hospital. But even today, similar problems exist in other facilities where UTMB operates, particularly Texas' adult and youth prison systems (TDCJ and TYC). While the feds are at it, they should investigate healthcare in other carceral settings where UTMB operates, and I'll bet they'd find similar results.

RELATED: See Part One and Part Two of the 47 page report by the feds from December '06.

Alternative Incarceration Center saves $2+ million per year in San Angelo

Reacting to this Grits post about savings attributed to Tyler's new alternative to incarceration program, Conchoinfo.org webmaster Jim Turner forwarded the idea to the Tom Green County Judge, who gave some backstory on Tyler's program and some data I hadn't seen on a similar program in San Angelo that predates it. Writes Turner:

I sent this to a few people I thought would be interested. Got this feedback from Mike Brown, County Judge of Tom Green County.

"Jim, Tom Green County created the Alternative Incarceration Program 10 years ago. The Smith County (Tyler) Probation (CSCD) dept. officials came here for 3 days and learned all about our program. They returned to Tyler armed with their new found knowledge and our documentation and created their program. Undisputedly, our program was the first in the state. AIC program savings to Tom Green County for FY2007 (9-1-06 thru 8-31-07) $2.284 million."

Posted with his permission. There are counties out here that get it.

Thanks, Jim! Two thoughts come to mind: First, it's great news that there's a well-established AIC in addition to Tyler's program, since that tells us up front the idea works and likely has staying power as a long-term solution.

Second, Mr. Turner's reader-reaction deserves grateful approbation. That's exactly what I hope folks do with Grits posts - put the information in front of decision makers who can use it and then communicate back to tell the rest of us their reaction. When that happens, this blog's influence can and occasionally has become greater than the sum or its parts. But it can only do so when readers participate, not just in the comments, but also in their local political process using the information published here.

Consider that model reader behavior, people, then go forth and do likewise.

TYC Retrospective

With a new lawsuit to overturn its pepper spray policy, the Blue Ribbon Panel releasing its report yesterday, plus a lot of other related information on the Texas Youth Commission coming out recently, I thought I'd update this list of significant Grits posts and other resources about TYC for readers' and researchers' convenience. Call it Grits' Red, White and Blue Ribbon Report:

TYC's Longstanding Problems:

New Leadership's Rocky Start

Adult Prison Staff Dominate Administration

New Management's Flaps and Fumbles

What Happened to Abused Kids Identified this Spring?

Ignoring Experts on Pepper Spray Policy

TYC's Secret Privatization Plan: On or off?

Thursday, September 13, 2007

ACA report on TYC health care available

The impact of understaffing problems on health care for kids incarcerated in Texas youth prisons was described to agency officials and the Texas Legislature this spring in a detailed spot-analysis by the American Correctional Association.

I just received a copy of the report evaluating Texas Youth Commission health services by the ACA on April 30, 2007, in response to an open record request. I'll go through it more thoroughly soon, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it for those interested.

Recent indications make me wonder if anyone followed up on these recommendations after receiving the ACA report?

In August, Dr. Ben Raimer told the Lege that UTMB was still "having a difficult time recruiting healthcare workers to staff Texas Youth Commission facilities because of deteriorating safety conditions at TYC units." Raimer also told legislators that mental healthcare is "probably worse" than it was one year ago.

The ACA report praised the quality of TYC mental health care, particularly at Corsicana, though even that facility requires more nursing support, they said. But concurring with Raimer, regular, acute healthcare for the general TYC population appears to be spotty, irregular, and most of all understaffed with qualified health personnel. Though only three units' records were examined, I don't imagine these issues were isolated to just those facilities.

Given Dr. Raimer's comments last month, how many of these issues do you suppose have been solved yet?

Lawsuit filed to stop TYC pepper spray policy; Blue Ribbon report now online

Bill Bush directs me to the Austin Statesman, where we find a copy of the Blue Ribbon report posted (pdf), as well as news that Advocacy Inc. and Texas Appleseed have sued the Texas Youth Commission to end its new pepper spray policy. Reports Mike Ward:

The suit alleges that [TYC executive commissioner Dimitria] Pope changed the policy in violation of a state law that requires public notice of such changes. [Austin attorney Jim] George said the agency "went behind closed doors and enacted a policy that is detrimental to the kids."

George said a hearing on the lawsuit is set for Oct. 2.

"Just as the children in TYC need to learn how to follow the rules, the administrators of that agency also need to follow the law," he said.

That's 100% correct. Pope's August 2 directive on pepper spray went through no public process at all. It wasn't published in the Texas Register, there was no opportunity for public comment, and it was implemented before anyone outside the agency was informed. (I learned of it when I received an anonymous copy in the mail.) If legislators knew about it, they were told behind the scenes. But the decision, to use this season's catch phrase, was anything but "transparent."

Not only did Ms. Pope clearly violate posting laws by changing the pepper spray rules without public process, I think the policy itself is vulnerable to attack because it violates the Morales v. Turman settlement, not just the administrative code rules that reflect it. Certainly changing those policies, as George says, would require a public process that never occurred.

I'll be interested to see the full complaint that was filed.

UPDATE: Here's the original petition in the lawsuit, a TX Appleseed press release, and initial Dallas News coverage.

Thursday Roundup

Here are a few late-morning tidbits that may interest readers:

Bullies with Badges
The Fort Worth Weekly says law enforcement in Johnson County just south of Forth Worth looks different than its urban neighbor. The Weekly described a "dangerously out-of-whack criminal justice system, including abusive jailers and overzealous patrol officers, backed by prosecutors willing to let people sit in jail for months without trial — and voters who seem willing to overlook all of that, as long as the system is 'tough on crime.'” Speaking of bullies, I Was The State points to a video making the rounds of an abusive cop from Missouri, declaring "This cop is representative of why all stops should be recorded and why we need more protections from traffic enforcement." I would add that most cops would never behave that way, but the minority who do can often rely on the majority's silence for cover.

Represent, Brother!
An inmate representing himself in court convinced the Fifth Circuit to reinstate his lawsuit against a Texas corrections officer who he alleged used racial taunts, beat him up and shocked him with a cattle prod. Wrote the Austin Statesman's Mike Ward, "The decision is raising eyebrows among lawyers and officials, not only because it is rare for the dismissal of such a case to be overturned, with a strongly worded hint in the decision that Payne's constitutional rights might have been violated, but also because the convict acted as his own attorney from the start."

Re-entry Focus Pays Off
The Fort Worth Star Telegram describes the "movement -- much of it faith-based -- to help Tarrant County ex-offenders stay away from those old habits."

Smart on Gang Crime
In Dallas, reports the New York Times, DA Craig Watkins is rolling back many of the anti-gang policies modeled on failed approaches in LA that overcriminalized small offenses. “'L.A. has this approach of being tough on crime,' said Craig Watkins, the district attorney in Dallas, where some Los Angeles-style tactics are being rolled back. 'But the result of that is overflowing prisons, high crime rates and increasing numbers of gang members. Now we want to be smart on crime.'”

'This could be the call I die on'
Jason pauses for a moment to remember three policemen from Odessa, Officers Jones, Gardner and Marquez, who were slain recently after they were ambushed responding to a 911 call. Keep their families in your prayers.

Red Light Cameras
Kuff has an update on cameras in Fort Bend County.

Graffiti: When it's art and when it's not
In Edmonton, Canada, the city's anti-graffiti program includes teaching kids the difference between invited and uninvited graffiti. "At one end of downtown, volunteers were taking down graffiti from dozens of walls. At the other, city teens were learning the finer points of putting it up." That's not far off from my own recent proposals for how to manage graffiti, following the lead of the Liberty Science Center: Teaching kids to "paint responsibly," since what they create is a "cultural asset."

El Paso Sheriff to Retire
El Paso Sheriff Leo Samaniego will retire after a 51-year career in law enforcement. I disagreed strongly with Samaniegos' use of local police for immigration enforcement, but anyone who spent a lifetime in public service like that deserves Grits' congratulations and best wishes for a happy retirement.

Blue Ribbon Panel: TYC "punishment" culture encourages pepper spray abuses

The "Blue Ribbon Panel" on reforming the Texas Youth Commission finally produced its long-awaited report, says the Austin Statesman, and it's highly critical of the agency's new pepper spray policies. Here are the recommendations, and I'll try to get a copy of the full report soon to analyze more thoroughly - it's not yet on TYC's website. Reported Mike Ward:

Youth Commission officials in early August approved using pepper spray before physical restraints to subdue juveniles. At the time, and at a subsequent legislative hearing, officials insisted that unnamed national juvenile corrections experts were split on its expanded use.

The report indicates otherwise.
"This task force unequivocally expresses its concern about TYC's new policy allowing the use of chemical control agents such as pepper spray," the report states.

"We understand that the new policy regarding pepper spray was implemented in an effort to decrease injuries to staff and juveniles, however, the ease with which pepper spray can be employed is extremely troubling. This is especially true in an environment that has not yet seen a shift in culture away from punishment and towards a treatment approach."

Though pepper spray could be best in dealing with some crisis situations, the report states, "it is all too easy to employ this technique in dealing with recalcitrant youth who refuse to obey an order or in an effort to extract a juvenile from his or her cell."

The report suggests other options for curbing injuries. It notes that living units of 50 youths or fewer have proved successful in other states. Most of Texas' state-run lockups hold 200 youths or more in living areas larger than that.

In the weeks since the pepper spray policy took effect, Youth Commission officials have reported that injuries to staff and youths have decreased. But a series of pepper-spraying incidents has led to criticism from some lawmakers, advocacy groups and relatives.

In an August incident at the Corsicana Residential Treatment Center, a lockup that houses mentally troubled youths, at least one youth was hospitalized with what might have been an allergic reaction after being sprayed.

The use of Mace and other chemical agents except to contain riots was prohibited in the settlement two decades ago of a federal court lawsuit over conditions in Youth Commission lockups. Critics have said the new policy violates that order, an assertion repeatedly denied by current agency officials.

I heard the Panel's report was completed a month ago, but TYC administration disagreed with portions of it and were trying to negotiate parts of its contents. That makes me wonder what the original report said, since this one flat out contradicts TYC's representations to the Lege, including that some juvenile justice experts supported more widespread pepper spray use.

What are the options for reducing violence at facilities sans pepper spray? The Blue Ribbon Panel said smaller facilities, higher staffing ratios and better training would be a better approach. I agree, but legislators appear willing to stick with the status quo and use OC spray to keep the peace. Rep. Jerry Madden says proposals for smaller facilities don't have political support and also backed TYC's pepper spray policy.

One wonders why they convened the Blue Ribbon Panel and put off so many initiatives waiting for its input if they weren't going to take its recommendations?

The decision to expand pepper spray use may give staff some short-term respite, but creates a mere illusion of control that can only be sustained through staff intimidation toward youth. At the end of the day, that creates an environment that's anathema to rehabilitation goals. I'll leave the final observations on that subject to a regular Grits commenter and TYC field staffer, who goes by the nom de plume "Old Salty." Salty left this noteworthy comment on a post about pepper spray use and how to best maintain control of youth that deserves readers attention:

there are some occasions when using pepper spray is appropriate. Unfortunately, I have seen it used too much as a crutch. ...

The over crowding, 96 bed open bay dorms, cutting back on resources to save money - they have all contributed to the mess we are in today. We also lost a great deal under the leadership of Chester Clay and the "get tough" bunch. Staff who had great skills at de-escalating were called cowards and were run off. Control by intimidation became the rule. Someone here keeps posting the mantra, "Control is an illusion." That is absolutely true when you try to achieve control through intimidation.

Staff who can hold firm, fair and consistent limits on kids, who confront them politely, but firmly, and who follow up with appropriate consequences when the youth do not comply, and recognition and reward when they do comply, tend to maintain control.

We are the adults. We have more control over their lives than we realize. Try something, as an experiment, if you do not believe me - when everything is loud and disruptive, make a point of addressing them at a lower volume. You will probably be surprised at the reaction you get. I've been doing it for years, and 95% of the time they quiet down because they want to hear what I am saying. They are used to staff yelling back at them, they are taken aback when a staff stands in the midst of them and calmly and without showing either fear or aggression, begins addressing them.

I am not afraid to get physical with youth - I have been involved in literally hundreds of restraints over my career. But, 95% or more of them were cases where I went to the aid of someone who had already initiated the restraint. I'd estimate that at least 80% of those restraints could have been avoided. The point is, that too many staff (especially males) feel that they have to prove themselves. You don't have to prove yourself to anybody.

Right now, my biggest concern is that there have been so many conflicting directives coming out of Central Office, that staff do not know what to do. The youth sense the uncertainty and are taking advantage. The predators are terrorizing both other youth and the staff. Kids tell me constantly that they do not feel safe. They want staff to reestablish control.

In conclusion, we, the adults, need to lead. We need to walk the walk. Don't expect much from Central Office, but don't make that an excuse for not doing your best to lead these kids. Don't let the kids gain the upper hand by letting them succeed in pushing your hot buttons.

I have never resorted to the use of pepper spray to get control, but, I have been mightily pissed off when I have been caught in the cross spray of a panicked staff.

I learned an important lesson from an experienced YAS IV early in my career. A kid had been told by staff to go to his room. The kid instead went over to the YAS IV and tried to address him. The YAS IV remained expressionless as he said, "You were told to go to your room." The kid persisted, and each time the YAS IV responded impassively the same way. Finally, after about 5 or six rounds of this, the kid said, "Fxxx you," and went to his room. About 5 minutes later, the YAS IV went to the kid's room and asked him, "Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?" He had control.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

TX prosecutors laud dismissal of NBC Dateline's 'Perverted Justice' cases

It took one of their own dying in a tragedy, but quite a few members of the Texas District and County Attorneys' user forum launched defenses of Collin County DA John Roach's decision to dismiss criminal cases based on evidence gathered by NBC's Dateline.

An assistant district attorney from a neighboring county notoriously killed himself when police and cameras showed up at his door. In response, Williamson County DA John Bradley, usually not one to celebrate dismissed cases against alleged child molesters, declared:

Tonight, I watched the Collin County DA on a 20/20 TV espisode, explain why he dismissed some 20 cases against child molesters. He pointed out the weaknesses created by a too-close relationship between local police, a vigilante group (Perverted Justice) and the media (Dateline's "To Catch a Predator"). With remarkable clarity, the DA defined the correct role of law enforcement (to investigate), media (to report) and the district attorney (to make sure the law was followed). If you missed the report, find a way to watch it. I was proud to see a Texas DA stand tall.

For once I agree with Bradley and Co. that the decision to dismiss the cases was a courageous and correct one. Their discussion of the case is well worth reading, and Shannon Edmonds linked on the string to related MSM coverage that I'll post here for interested readers:

USDOJ Consultant: Nacogdoches jail overcrowding caused by pols, not crooks

If elected officials in Nacogdoches won't believe Grits that they're incarcerating too many low-level, nov-violent offenders, maybe they'll believe consultants sent by the Bush Administration who just told them the same thing ("Jail overused, more innovative programs needed," Daily Sentinel, Sept. 12):

Consultants from the National Institute of Corrections, an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, described the local criminal justice system as a "systemwide dysfunction" when they met with Nacogdoches County commissioners Tuesday as part of a three-day evaluation of the system.

They told commissioners the jail was being "over-used," and that more innovative programs could be implemented so that non-violent offenders "never occupy a bed in the jail."

Hmmm. That idea sounds familiar. Unfortunately, the Nacogdoches Sheriff earlier this week rejected the shortest route to that goal - implementing HB 2391 allowing citations for certain minor offenses instead of arrest. Sheriff Kerss bizarrely claims that changing policies to jail fewer nonviolent offenders pretrial wouldn't help jail overcrowding, though on its face the claim makes no sense.

Thankfully, as in Tyler where new incarceration alternatives are flourishing, some Nacogdoches officials don't support more jail building:

"My biggest goal is to not build more beds," Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Bush said. "I think we have enough beds. Angelina is a county of 82,000 in population, and they have a 180 bed jail, in which they rent 30 of those beds out."

By comparison, Nacogdoches County has about 60,000 residents, and their jail has a 292 person capacity, while renting extra beds! No wonder commissioners want alternatives!

As is the case most places in the state, DOJ told Nacogdoches their jail overcrowding problem couldn't be blamed on the criminals but resulted from changes in day to day decisions by policymakers:

"The tremendous increase in workload that your system is experiencing is not changing because of the behavior of the criminal population, because the crime rate is actually lower than it was in 2001," Cushman added. "The more work results from the decisions being made about the people involved in the cases that are being processed through the system."
Both Cunniff and Cushman told the commissioners they have two options in dealing with the overloaded judicial system: they can invest in "outrunning the workload" by adding more beds to the jail or hiring additional staff, of they can invest in improving the management handling and information gathering to understand how the system is operating and how they can get to the root of the problem.

"You will never be able to outrun it," Cushman said. "You have no central repository of information. The board of directors that could be created could have an independent analyst to provide information that could guide the county to create additional programs to deal with offenders."

That's good advice. The first thing to do when trying to get out of a hole is to stop digging. For starters, Sherif Kerss and local law enforcement need to re-think their opinion about implementing HB 2391, the only piece of legislation signed by Gov. Perry this year providing jail overcrowding relief. The consultants had other good suggestions to solve their short-term problem:

One hypothetical example Cushman gave the commissioners dealt with the spikes in jail population on the weekends, in which the county jail will have people check in and out of jail on the weekends to serve out their sentences, while still maintaining their jobs during the week.

"They are not the people you are afraid of. They are getting a little 'gray-bar therapy' basically, so couldn't they be put to better use?" Cushman said. "With the right information, a weekend work program might be beneficial, so those people never occupy a bed in the jail."

Nacogdoches and other small towns, just like Texas' big cities, are running up against the pragmatic limits of politicized "tuff on crime" stances by their officials. With the 11th highest incarceration rate out of 254 counties, Nacogdoches' jail overcrowding is a problem of choice, not of necessity or driven by public safety.

Judges, the DA, and arresting agencies together could easily solve this problem if they cared to, but it's politically easier to be "tuff" and call for more jail building. What gets me is when the same people at election time run for office as "small government conservatives."

Overbuilt, overcrowded jails are Big Government's epitome, and Big Brother's darker sibling - not just a strain on the pocketbook but a stain on the flag. The trend cannot be sustained and must be reversed.

RELATED See Grits' best practices to reduce county jail overcrowding, Part 1 and Part 2, and also:

El Paso Conference on False Confessions

UT-El Paso will host a conference on false confessions on Sept. 27-29. Here's a description:

This two-and-a-half-day conference will provide a unique forum within which social scientists, legal scholars, law enforcement professionals, and clinicians might be brought together to critically examine the current state of research and practice in the context of interrogations and confessions. To this end, the organizers have invited the most prominent scholars who have developed well-recognized programs of research on the topics of interrogative interviewing, false confessions, the detection of deception in forensic interviews, individual differences, and clinical-forensic evaluations. The conference program includes both individual research presentations and panel discussions that will provide a forum for assessing future directions in research and the development of "best practice" models. Continuing education credit is available to lawyers and clinical psychologists who might wish to attend.

And here's the registration form.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Former TYC psychologist: 'I saw children in pain stuck in the system and couldn't help'

How many kids at the Texas Youth Commission suffer from undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

I'd reported that 83% of students who called TYC's abuse hotline this spring and received counseling were diagnosed with PTSD, but I now have reason to believe victim-psych services for PTSD and related disorders should be a higher priority for the agency. TYC already ended counseling for kids identified through the hotline this summer.

Commenting on Grits' post on lack of sufficient PTSD counseling for abuse victims who called the Texas Youth Commission hotline this spring, a former TYC psychologist writes:

As an associate psychologist with TYC, I was consistently frustrated because I had youths in my office who fully met the criteria for PTSD but that diagnosis from the Marlin Orientation and Assessment Unit never showed up in their charts.

Statistics from other states indicate one should expect about 65% of the youths in juvenile lock-up to meet the criteria for PTSD. I randomly selected 50 charts to see if any of the youths had been diagnosed with PTSD. According to the research, I should have found about 32 youths with PTSD. I found NOT ONE.

Many of the criteria for PTSD match the criteria for Conduct Disorder. Apparently a decision was made somewhere up the food chain to dismiss the PTSD symptoms and rely on Conduct Disorder -- possibly because this provides evidence that TYC is dealing with "the worst of the worse."

There is absolutely no will to provide treatment for this issue and I believe this is because the treatment protocol for PTSD is challenging and exhausting for the psychologist.

That said, however, a lock-down setting could be viewed as the perfect opportunity to provide treatment for PTSD. The youths cannot go anywhere, which guarantees they will attend each scheduled session even if they're in Security. In outpatient treatment, youths often don't come regularly which makes it nearly impossible to meet treatment plan goals.

Furthermore, it is interesting that when counselors outside the agency were asked to come into TYC and assess the youth, they did not find the same diagnoses TYC psychologists at Marlin found. Some say that is because those psychologists were naive and inexperienced with this kind of youth. After having an opportunity to chat with several of them, however, I found they had much experience working with traumatized children in the foster care system and were actually better prepared to see PTSD AND Conduct Disorder than many of TYC's best psychologists and psychiatrists.

Sorry for such a long post, but this was one of the principal issues that led to my resignation from TYC at John Shero. I saw children who were in pain stuck in a system that provided no opportunity to relieve that pain -- even though I had the training, skills and desire to do so.

TYC is the saddest experience of my career and while I am thankful to have escaped such a toxic environment, my heart breaks for the children who've been failed by the entire system.

Many of these children have been reaching out for help the best way they know how for most of their lives. That help has been elusive and unavailable for most.

That's a tragic bureaucratic failure. Not only does it worsen public safety in the long run, it ignores the fact that many kids who we lock up as criminals are also themselves victims, both before they come to TYC and sometimes while they're there.

When we speak of victim's rights, plenty of kids in TYC have been denied them. While TYC has these youth, the state should seize the opportunity to teach abused kids how to forgive, how to ask forgiveness, and how to live with their memories and fears without taking it out on others or creating new victims.

That's the importance of accurate diagnoses and assessments: To prevent kids from continuing a cycle of victimization when they leave custody, the state must not flinch from identifying the their real problems and directing resources toward them.

That's not happening now for kids with PTSD at all, even those whose victimization was splashed across the newspaper headlines this spring! That part, especially, really stinks.

Pope passing the buck on important TYC decisions

I just discovered this page of "recent directives" on the Texas Youth Commission website which previously escaped my notice. The theme of several new directives from Executive Commissioner Dimitria Pope was handing off key management decisions to small groups of hand-picked insiders.

In some instances, given poor decisions by the management team so far, that may be a good thing. For example, here's the full text of an interesting decision from July 31:

I hereby delegate to the agency's Chief Administrative Law Judge the authority and responsibility to make and issue the final decision in all employment termination grievances. This delegation applies to both pending and future employment termination grievances under PRS.35.15.

So for everybody who lost their job over a felony TYC already knew about and everyone else who's filed a wrongful termination grievance, an administrative law judge, not Ms. Pope, will make the decision.

I'm curious to hear from ex-TYC employees going through this process - do y'all consider this good news? What's happening with your cases, what's the timeline for denouement, and what are you hearing about the quantity and types of cases alleging wrongful termination?

Another recent Pope directive Aug. 29 created an interim review panel "designated as the final decision authority for approving the release, discharge, or extension of stay for all non-sentenced offender youth who have completed the assigned minimum length of stay." I'd heard about this panel but hadn't seen the directive. I guess these are the folks who must decide the fate of 19-20 year olds who the TYC administration left in limbo.

Yet another directive governs admission and extension decisions for mentally ill youth incarcerated at Corsicana, granting authority over decisions to one person:

decision-making authority for Mental Health Status Review hearings for admission or extension of stay in the Corsicana Stabilization Unit is temporarily granted to a single hearing manager appointed by the Corsicana Residential Treatment Center superintendent. This directive is in effect only until and as soon as additional psychiatry services are obtained for the Corsicana facility.

The hearing manager must be the assistant superintendent, a program specialist, or a mental health specialist. The criteria for admission or extension in the Corsicana Stabilization Unit remain the same as in current policy. Any recommendation to admit or extend must be supported by expert testimony from a psychiatrist.

Who is this one person, I wonder, and how were these decisions made before? What was wrong with the old decision making process? Is the purpose of this decision to reduce the number of youth admitted to Corsicana, and if so is that really a good idea to disqualify kids who might need specialized mental health services? I wonder what Don Brantley thinks about the idea?

Though the directive was dated August 31, I recall no discussion of the decision at the joint legislative hearing just two days before. In fact, an official at UTMB told the Lege that mental healthcare at TYC had declined in quality since the spring. Due to "overcrowding" or "understaffing" problems said, Dr. Ben Raimer, healthcare workers had to operate at TYC in a "situation that's out of control." So given that context, how will this change improve matters?

As always, I'm grateful for any light TYC employees can shed on these matters.

HISD police created 'Ghetto Handbook': 'Blue wall of silence' nearly covered it up

Here's an item I missed in the clips when it came out a couple of weeks ago: An unfortunate glimpse inside the mindset of certain Houston ISD campus police officers. Reported AP on 8/31:

A school district suspended a police officer as it investigates his distribution of a "Ghetto Handbook" and the three-month lapse before top district officials were informed of it.
The eight-page booklet, subtitled "Wucha dun did now?", was handed out to about 15 Houston Independent School District police officers at a May meeting, district spokesman Terry Abbott said. Officials declined to identify the officer who handed them out, but said he had been ordered to attend diversity training.

A supervisor immediately collected the booklets, Abbott said, but district officials said they didn't learn about the incident until someone complained to the district's Equal Employment Opportunity Office in mid-August.

"This publication was completely reprehensible and HISD condemns it in the strongest possible terms," Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said in a written statement Thursday.

He said he has "mounted a very aggressive investigation."

District Police Chief Charles Wiley had no comment, Abbott said.

The booklet billed itself as a guide to Ebonics, teaching the reader to speak "as if you just came out of the hood." It included definitions such as "foty: a 40-ounce bottle of beer"; "aks: to ask a question"; and "hoodrat: scummy girl."

The booklet names six district officers "and the entire day shift patrol" as contributors. Abbott said a preliminary investigation has cleared those officers of involvement.

Last year, almost 30 percent of the district's 202,000 students were black and almost 60 percent were Hispanic.

So, six officers were named as authors but only one was suspended? Does anyone think their co-worker would have included their names as authors without their foreknowledge? And does the attribution to "the entire day shift" mean that racist jokes and attitudes are common among HISD police?

One hesitates to attribute racist attitudes by an individual to an entire department, but this much can certainly be said: At least six officers allegedly participated and possibly the entire day shift knew. They clearly believed their fellow officers would think their Ebonics guide was funny, to the extent that they distributed it at an official meeting. The supervisor who removed the materials did not report the event up the ladder. Though a joke, the incident raises troubling questions about field officers' attitudes and management competence, as noted at Blackprof, especially since

These officers are charged to serve and protect a school district that is nearly 90% Black and Brown. Yet such a glaring case of institutional racism barely makes national news and as far as I know, no officers were fired or disciplined beyond this singular suspension. In a fair and balanced world the entire HISD would be investigated so that we might root out any residual racist behavior.

At a minimum, to me, the delay before the supervisor reported the incident indicates that he and many HISD police tolerate such attitudes in the ranks and consider them relatively harmless. It sounds like the case may evidence a wider cultural cancer among HISD police, not just an isolated, "insensitive" officer.

Tolerating widespread disdain for minority youth they're charged to protect will inevitably infect how HISD police interact with students in subtle and not so subtle ways, helping discredit law enforcement with minority students at an early age. From the AP story it sounds like HISD hasn't yet come to grips with how harmful that could be.

In other Harris County youth news, the Commissioners Court extended the curfew for kids under 17 from midnight till 6 a.m. in Harris County - it does not apply in Houston proper. This has turned into a steady source of revenue for the county, generating 2,500 tickets in the last three years. Related: Early reports are the nearly everyone at schools in Harris County the next day had read the commissioners court minutes and were all scared out of their pants. Man, I'm glad they did that! Now Harris County parents KNOW they don't have to worry about their teenagers being out late - after all, there's a law! (/sarcasm) Seriously, I hate this crap: Infantilize kids and they'll inevitably live up to those expectations. Kids' curfews should be set by parents, not the government. The government should ban bad conduct and punish when they misbehave, not just because they left the house after Saturday Night Live was over.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Hair evidence preserved that will confirm or deny guilt of executed man

Did Texas execute Claude Jones for a crime he didn't commit?

A judge ordered DNA evidence preserved that could tell us one way or the other, thanks to legal action by the New York-based Innocence Project and The Texas Observer. See the Observer's post on the subject, and initial MSM coverage. Jones was the final Texan executed while George W. Bush was governor.

If Jones didn't commit the crime, not only did Texas kill a wrongfully convicted man, but the real killer is still out there.

At least San Jacinto County kept the evidence. If this case had occurred in Harris County, the DNA evidence would not have been preserved to test.

Tyler's jail alternative saves $1 million in first 9 months

Three months ahead of schedule, savings from Smith County's new jail alternative program reached the $1 million mark, I'm happy to report. Thanks to Judge Cynthia Kent in Tyler for sharing the good news in a forwarded email from the Smith County probation director Gerald Hayden, who wrote:

I was at the AIC this morning when Laura Gerick came into the office where Greg and I were talking. She excitedly reported to us the AIC has reached the $1,000,000.00 mark in savings for Smith County. This was done in actually 9 months, as we were 3 months into the fiscal year getting started. And we have several weeks left in this fiscal year. I could not be happier about this great news. The AIC is performing just as planned.

I have been contacted recently by 3 other CSCD's who want to come and study our program for inclusion purposes in their departments. I fully anticipate others will come forward to study the AIC in the near future.

Congratulations and Great Work to the AIC Unit for achieving this milestone.

Congratulations, indeed! I'm not surprised other counties want to copy the model, which was Judge Kent's brainchild. If alternatives to incarceration can work in Smith County, they can work anywhere in Texas. All reports say the program helps people succeed and stay out of jail, and now we know it saves taxpayers money, too.

Good job, Judge Kent and to all involved! Maybe now the county will pony up to implement the rest of your plans to reduce overcrowding and keep from having to build a new jail that the voters don't want.

See related Grits posts:

Tuff on crime, meet reality at the Nacogdoches jail

The county of Nacogdoches has a jail so overcrowded they must rent space from neighboring Gregg County. But officials there would rather keep paying than take steps to solve the problem, reported the Nacogdoches Sentinel last week ("Local cops stay strict on minor charges," Sept. 7).

Earlier this year, Governor Rick Perry signed into law new authority to assist with local jail overcrowding. As of September 1, HB 2391 gave police discretion to issue citations instead of arresting people who commit certain low-level non-violent misdemeanors.

The Nacogdoches Sheriff made one of the most asinine comments I've heard yet on this subject:

Sheriff Thomas Kerss said the new law isn't being implemented in the county because it wouldn't necessarily reduce the jail population.

"You may delay the inevitable," he said. "If a person is charged with a Class B or above, at some point, they're still going to come into the county system, even though they may not be booked into jail at the onset."

Really? Think about that. We know the main cause of jail overcrowding in Nacogdoches is pretrial detention. But Sheriff Kerss says it wouldn't help jail ovecrowding to incarcerate FEWER people before their court date. That's just flat out not true; it's either misquoted, REALLY stupid, or utterly disingenuous.

Counties which hope to convince voters to approve new jail bonds in the future must be able to show voters they did all they could to avoid the extra expense. That's not true when local officials choose to incarcerate people they don't have to, like they're doing in Nacogdoches.

Grim statistic on Post Traumatic Stress among TYC complainants

From the "transparency" section of TYC's report to the Legislature last month, we learn that initially 320 incarcerated youth who called the agency's abuse hotline this spring requested counseling, and 300 of those received an assessment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Of those 300, an eye-popping 249 were diagnosed with PTSD, or 83%, though the report insists the trauma "may not have been related" to anything that happened at TYC. Despite that caveat, and accepting that a lot of TYC kids come from abusive backgrounds, that many PTSD diagnoses very well could be related to the youths' stay in TYC - that's a high ratio in anybody's book.

For a long time I believed PTSD was something reserved for "shell-shocked" soldiers who lost friends on the battlefield or people who lived through horrible disasters. But in recent years I've had cause to learn from events in my personal life that, from a clinical diagnostic perspective, there are many kinds of traumas that trigger PTSD symptoms, especially physical abuse or unresolved psychic trauma during childhood.

Only 135 of the 300 continued to receive counseling, and those services ended, says the report, at the end of the summer. That's not good enough, and TYC and UTMB's healthcare folks need to step up with more and better counseling services for TYC youth. And I don't just mean prescribing drugs or telepsychiatry.

Without a lot of one on one help, certainly more than a couple of months' worth of episodic sessions, there's a good chance that whatever caused these kids' PTSD, whether while they were in the state's custody or not, will haunt them into adulthood, affecting their life and behavior negatively for years to come.

The report seems to treat the incident from this spring as a one time crisis to manage, not a problem that merits long-term change in how kids are treated, certainly not regarding their behavioral health. Despite the high percentage of complainants diagnosed, no plan was mentioned in the report to assess the rest of TYC's population for PTSD, nor to provide additional future counseling.

Before they shut down the counseling program, I think they need to see how many kids besides just the complainants need similar treatment, and re-assess the initial 300 to see if they could still benefit from additional mental health services. If so, we owe it to them.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Friday, September 14, 2007

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Monday, September 10, 2007

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2004 Koufax Award Winner:Best Single Issue BlogWinner of Blawg Review's2006 Equal Justice AwardPublic Defender Investigators' 2007"Editors Choice Award"2009 Austin Chronicle'Best of Austin' AwardRanked among Top 3 most influential independent law blogs in North America, 2012

Winner of Blawg Review's2006 Equal Justice AwardPublic Defender Investigators' 2007"Editors Choice Award"2009 Austin Chronicle'Best of Austin' AwardRanked among Top 3 most influential independent law blogs in North America, 2012

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2004 Koufax Award Winner:Best Single Issue Blog
Winner of Blawg Review's
2006 Equal Justice Award
Public Defender Investigators' 2007
"Editors Choice Award"
2009 Austin Chronicle
'Best of Austin' Award
Ranked among Top 3 most influential independent law blogs in North America, 2012

Winner of Blawg Review's
2006 Equal Justice Award
Public Defender Investigators' 2007
"Editors Choice Award"
2009 Austin Chronicle
'Best of Austin' Award
Ranked among Top 3 most influential independent law blogs in North America, 2012