Girls Abused in New York’s Juvenile Prisons

[RestoreGore]

We don't do torture? These are children and this is happening in OUR country. Doesn't anyone care? More than 95,000 children are in the custody of juvenile "justice" agencies like this nationwide. What the hell are we doing?
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http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0925-06.htm

U.S.: Girls Abused in New York’s Juvenile Prisons
Violent Restraints, Sexual Abuse Must Stop

NEW YORK - September 25 - Girls in New York’s juvenile prisons are being abused and neglected by state authorities, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union charged in a report released today.

The report, “Custody and Control: Conditions of Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Prisons for Girls,” provides an in-depth look at the abuses and neglect suffered by girls confined in two remote New York juvenile facilities known as Tryon and Lansing. The facilities are operated by the New York Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and are the only two higher-security facilities in New York State holding girls.

“New York wants to hide the fate of the girls it incarcerates,” said Mie Lewis, the report’s author and Aryeh Neier Fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU. “The abuses have continued because the public has been kept in the dark.”

The report documents that Lansing and Tryon staffs frequently restrain girls violently, seizing them from behind and pushing them to the floor, then pulling their arms up behind them to hold or handcuff. Although such a restraint procedure may be appropriate in an emergency, the indications are that the staffs sometimes use it to punish girls for minor acts such as improperly making their beds or not raising their hands before speaking. Using such violent restraints for minor infractions constitutes a disproportionate and excessive use of force. Girls who have been restrained typically end up with “rug burns” – abrasions on their faces – as well as cuts, bruises, and in rare cases a concussion or a broken limb.

Incarcerated girls may also be at risk of sexual abuse. Human Rights Watch and the ACLU documented three cases in the past five years of staff having intercourse with their wards. The report also reveals that staff have touched girls in sexual ways and made sexual comments to them. Staff members at Tryon and Lansing have also humiliated girls by publicly commenting on their past sexual history, sexual abuse or infection with sexually transmitted diseases.
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More at the link.

Senator Clinton? Senator Schumer? Governor Pataki? Where are you?

[wakeme2008]

1. One female friend I know works as a semi-guard at both boys and girl in Fl

lockups. She surprised me by saying there is very little boy on boy sex, but almost all girls end up having girl on girl sex. :shrug:

[faithnotgreed]

2. so awful. those incarcerated on all levels are at the mercy

of many people and situations

[madmusic]

3. It's pervasive.

The entire system all across the States is corrupt.

K&R.

Edit: For example: http://talkleft.com/new_archives/006658.html">The Scam.

[madmusic]

4. Calif. Incarcerated Teens Kept in Cages

We first reported last week on a new report blasting the California Youth Authority for keeping kids in cages and ignoring mental health issues.

New reports to be released this week show how dire the situation is in California's youth prisons:

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/005212.html