Texas: ACLU sues state juvenile prison system

[Joanne98]

AUSTIN — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Youth Commission on Thursday, accusing it of subjecting its female offenders to unwarranted solitary confinement, routine strip searches and brutal physical force.

According to the brief, incarcerated girls are "frequently subjected to punitive solitary confinement in oppressively cold, concrete and cinderblock cells containing nothing more than a metal slab intended for use as a bed, and in some cases, a metal toilet."

The girls, many of whom suffered sexual abuse in the past, are also regularly strip-searched, the lawsuit alleges. Those who resist the searches are subjected to extreme force, including being pepper sprayed in the face or being bound in leather straps, the ACLU argued in its 19-page brief.


Constitutional rights
The ACLU filed its class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas on behalf of five girls currently incarcerated at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile facility in Brownwood.

The ACLU accused the state's correctional agency, which last year was rocked by a massive abuse scandal, of violating the constitutional rights of its minor clients, all of whom suffered sexual, physical or emotional abuse prior to incarceration.

Dismayed TYC officials charged the ACLU with failing to recognize the progressive reforms the agency's new leadership has instituted as part of the shake up that followed last year's scandal.

"It would be nice to work with ACLU as partners," said TYC spokesman Jim Hurley, noting TYC has made some dramatic changes in the last year. "TYC is not the same TYC it was a year ago."


Certain conditions common
But Hurley acknowledged that notwithstanding certain reforms, many of the conditions cited in the brief could be found on any given day at TYC units throughout the state.

"If kids are on a work detail in the cafeteria, before they go back to their dorm, I'm sure they're (strip) searched, to make sure there is no contraband, no weapons," Hurley said. "These are things that are done across the board."

He said he believes the lawsuit could have been avoided with a simple phone call from ACLU attorneys. "It's likely there are things in there that are already on the board ready to be revamped," he added.

Hurley said addressing the special needs of the 150 or so female offenders had become one of the biggest priorities of the agency's new conservator, Richard Nedelkoff. He indicated that the agency might take a hard look at the practice of strip-searching females.

An attorney for the ACLU said that while the agency had taken some important steps, patience is running low.

"In the interest of our clients, we just felt we couldn't wait any longer," said Lisa Graybill, legal director of the Texas ACLU.

The agency became the subject of national news reports last year amid allegations that top officials turned a blind eye to evidence that youth had been or were being sexually and or physically abused by staff at a number of facilities around the state.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5834518.html#Intro

It's about time!!!!!!

[flashl]

1. Looong overdue. nt

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

2. I'd like to shove this one down the anti-ACLU crowd's throats

The anti-ACLU crowd is good at attacking its target for the more "controversial" positions it takes. I wonder if this case would put Stoptheaclu.org on the defensive?