U.S. Department of Justice investigating abuse, mistreatment at Texas’ juvenile lockups – By Jolie McCullough (Texas Tribune) / Oct 13 2021
The department says it’s looking into whether the Texas Juvenile Justice Department provides “reasonable protection from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”
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The federal government opened an investigation Wednesday into Texas’ long-troubled juvenile lockups, which currently detain nearly 700 teens who often are found to need heightened supervision or have committed violent crimes.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would examine whether children detained in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s five lockups are reasonably protected “from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.”
The announcement comes days after the agency reported the latest arrest of a former staffer accused of improper sexual activity with a person in custody. Devin King, 29, was arrested on Friday for allegedly touching the breast of an 18-year-old detainee while he worked as a detention officer. The incident was first reported in July, the agency said.
For more than a decade, TJJD has been slammed for reports of repeated sexual and physical abuse, as well as a lack of control. Last year, advocacy groups called for the federal government to step in, saying in a complaint that the department allowed “grievous violations of children’s constitutional rights.”
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