The state of Texas has essentially controlled her son’s life since he was 11. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department was supposed to keep him safe and help him get better. It has failed at every turn.
In February, the ombudsman sent Amnisty an email acknowledging that Keith was able to cut himself because he wasn’t being properly monitored, but the investigation was closed with no further action taken.
Amnisty started attending AA meetings and going to church. While there were initially moments of relapse, she says she has been sober now for three years. Keith spent 15 months at the Ron Jackson and Giddings facilities. When he returned home, Amnisty said he was withdrawn. He spent hours alone in his room and had to sleep with the light on.
“I think that if he had been in an urban county that he might not have landed where he is,” Merfish said. “It comes down to what resources are available, what community services, what mental health services.” Based on current staffing levels, the juvenile prison called the Giddings State School — which includes TJJD’s mental health program and Crisis Stabilization Unit — is about 150% over capacity, according to TJJD records. The Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg is 200% over capacity. Sixty percent of the mental health positions at Evins are filled, which means they have the capacity to meet the needs of only about 44 children as opposed to the 94 currently there.
“At this point, our pool of youth waiting for treatment has become too large for us to maintain,” Norton said. “I frequently conceptualize our treatment waitlist like a swimming pool and we are trying to empty by using a cup.”Keith has been isolated for much of his incarceration for assaulting staff and in Giddings’ mental health unit to protect him from harming himself.
A TJJD spokesperson could not comment on Keith specifically but said that over the past two years there have been disruptions in schooling due to COVID outbreaks and the staffing shortage: “Youth may have received study packets from their teachers during critical staff shortages, in which youth would have to stay in their rooms because training staffing was insufficient to provide safe supervision at legally mandated levels.
At TJJD, Keith “hasn’t had access to educational services. He hasn’t had consistent access to mental health treatment. He hasn’t had those things that are sort of fundamental to his rehabilitation,” Merfish said. Amnisty testifies to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department board at the Texas Capitol on June 16 about the abuse her son Keith has suffered in the department’s care.“I’m not here to complain. I’m not here to nag about the justice system,” she told the committee members. “I’m here to beg and plead to help my child. He’s in a hospital and he’s doing very well. He’s not self-harming. And they’re fixing to send him back to TJJD where he’s not safe at all.
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Reports reflect the dangers in Texas juvenile prisonsThe continuing chaos within the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, which worsened after a surge of employees quit following the pandemic, has led to children being locked in their cells for most of the day. Via TexasTribune.
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Almost 600 Texas youth are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapseThe agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.
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Almost 600 Texas youth are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapseTeachers and caseworkers routinely work in security roles so the prisons’ nearly 600 youth can get out of their cells to go to the bathroom or take showers. Still, children have reported being left to use bottles as makeshift toilets. | via TexasTribune
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Almost 600 Texas youths are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapseThe agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.
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Almost 600 Texas youth are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapseThe agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells. Many have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch. Texas GregAbbott JuvenileJustice TexasNews prison Children Youth SocialJustice
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Almost 600 Texas youths are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapseChildren at one prison in North Texas told state inspectors they have used cups or water bottles as makeshift toilets on weekends, according to inspection reports. An officer said kids were given extra cups and bottles specifically for this purpose.
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