TEXAS, USA — A new United States Department of Justice report says young people at five juvenile detention facilities in Texas are routinely subjected to abuse and are denied critical services.
The report states that staff members routinely exposed children to excessive force and prolonged isolation, failed to protect children from sexual abuse and failed to provide adequate mental health services.
"Children are committed to TJJD facilities to receive treatment and rehabilitation so that they may return to their communities as law-abiding, productive citizens," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, aid. "Our investigation showed that, far from achieving those objectives, TJJD engaged in a pattern of abuse, deprivation of essential services and disability-related discrimination that seriously harms children and undermines their rehabilitation. State officials have an obligation to keep these children safe, to teach them, to provide them necessary health services and to treat them fairly, without discrimination. The Justice Department is committed to protecting the rights of vulnerable children in juvenile facilities. We look forward to working with state officials to remedy these violations, institute needed reform and improve outcomes for Texas children."
The DOJ report said it looks forward to cooperating with the state to address the violations but also raised the potential of a federal lawsuit if the problems aren't corrected.
None of the five facilities named in the report are in the Houston area:
- Evins Regional Juvenile Center
- Gainesville State School
- Giddings State School
- McClennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility
- Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex
The DOJ said it's working with state officials to remedy the violations.
Read the report below: