Feds: Sex abuse high at 13 juvenile centers

[Pendleton Juvenile]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government study issued Thursday finds 13 juvenile detention facilities around the country have high rates of sex abuse and victimization, where nearly 1 out of every 3 inmates reported some type of victimization.

A Justice Department study has found that nationwide, about 12 percent of youths held in state-run, privately-run, or local facilities reported some type of sexual victimization -- but those rates varied widely from place to place.

Six sites had reported victimization rates of 30 percent or higher.

The figures are based on surveys of youths in custody.

About 10 percent reported incidents involved facility staff people, and nearly all of those complaints were against female staffers. About 2 percent of the reported incidents involving abuse perpetrated against young inmates by other youths.

Approximately 26,550 juveniles are held in such facilities around the country, and the survey -- conducted for the government by Westat, a company based on Rockville, Md. -- collected information from about 9,000 of them.

The study identified six facilities where the survey found at least 3 out of every 10 inmates said they were sexually victimized while in custody: Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana; Corsicana Residential Treatment Center in Texas; Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Md.; Samarkand Youth Development Center in Eagle Springs, N.C.; Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania; and the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center, Long Term, in Mitchells, Va.

At Pendleton, the rate of incidents was double the national average for such facilities.

Another seven sites reported nearly as high levels of sexual abuse or victimization: Victory Field Correctional Academy in Vernon, Texas; Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility; Shawono Center in Grayling, Michigan; Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville, Tenn.; L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs, Okla.; Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Virginia; New Jersey Training School in Monroe Township, N.J.

At those 13 facilities, most reports of sexual victimization involved nonconsensual sex acts with another youth or serious sex acts with facility staff.

Staff sexual misconduct was higher in state-run facilities than in privately or locally operated sites, the study found, and smaller facilities tended to have fewer incidents of sexual victimization.

Nearly 80 percent of the victims said at least one incident took place in a common area, such as a classroom or office, while about half said at least one incident happened in the shower, and half of the victims said they had been victimized by staff in their room or sleeping areas.

Most of the abuse took place in the evening, between 6 p.m. and midnight, the study found.

[Pendleton Juvenile]

Pendleton among worst correctional facilities for sex abuse
Sandra Chapman/Eyewitness News

Pendleton - An alarming new report says sex abuse is more than twice the national average at 13 juvenile centers across the country. The facility in Pendleton is listed as one of the worst.

The 15- to 19-year-olds incarcerated at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility are sent there often as a last chance for rehabilitation in the state's juvenile system.

But an explosive Justice Department study reports at least one in three boys serving prison time in Pendleton become victims of sexual abuse. They are violated by fellow offenders, but more often by the female staff hired to protect them.

"When you have a breach of trust like this it sets us all back. It shocks us all," said Doug Garrison, Indiana Department of Correction.

The study found six juvenile facilities nationwide with victimization rates at 30 percent or higher. Pendleton was the second highest, with 36 percent of the 270 males reporting abuse. Not far behind was the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility for girls, now in Madison, at 23 percent.

The Indiana DOC says the numbers offenders reported anonymously in the federal study are way out of line with its own monthly surveys showing rates between 10 and 15 percent.

"The numbers that we came up with don't show the kind of numbers the federal study came up with. So, while we don't dispute that it occurs, and that's not to minimize even the one allegation, we don't believe our numbers are as high as that," said Garrison.

The DOC plans to re-interview every offender at both Pendleton and Madison. They want to know how often juveniles are encountering sexual abuse and by whom.

Last month, four female staff members at Pendleton were suspended, including two correctional officers, after a teen inmate reported sexual conduct with the four women.

"If it's determined that the allegations are true, they'll all be fired. We also have a trust that is entrusted to us by the state and by parents to safeguard their children and we take it very serious. And to the extent that this occurs we plan to get it stopped," said Garrison.

The national average of abuse in juvenile facilities is around 12 percent. The Justice Department found it generally higher in state-run facilities with larger inmate populations. DOC officials say it's impossible to require gender-specific monitoring of inmates.

[Pendleton Juvenile]

Under the state, care isn't always safe

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR

There may be no greater source of shame for government than failure to protect citizens who are not in their homes or on the street but in the state's care. The breach of faith is all the worse when those victims are not even adults.

The nation got a wake-up call Thursday via a U.S. Justice Department report that 12 percent of incarcerated juveniles reported sexual victimization while in custody over the past year. The bulk of the accusations were against staff. The emotional and physical damage cannot be measured by any study.

The report spotlighted 13 sites that exceeded the average, including two in Indiana: the maximum-security Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility for boys; and Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility, the state prison for girls.

The figures -- 36 percent for Pendleton, 23 percent for the girls' lockup -- have been questioned by the Indiana Department of Correction and the private Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force Inc. Their own interviews with inmates, they say, have generated far fewer complaints. The reasons remain to be explored; but it is noteworthy that the federal survey was computerized and confidential; the Indiana ones have been face to face, perhaps lending a chilling effect.

Both the task force and DOC agree that even a fraction of the federal numbers is intolerable. So what now?

Tighter supervision, better training, more staff and smaller concentrations of inmates are in order. That would mean money, and money is short. But investing in positive treatment of troubled teenagers can save enormously in correctional dollars, unemployment and other liabilities later. The DOC took a step in that direction last year with creation of its Division of Youth Services.

A model might be found in the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, which responded to a scathing national report on its hygiene and safety three years ago by overhauling leadership and diverting offenders to intervention and prevention programs. The population was slashed by close to half without a spike in crime.

Alternatives to large, fortress-like, remote facilities must be sought for the overburdened prison system as a whole. They especially make sense for juveniles. The Justice report implies as much, noting that sexual misconduct was less likely to occur in smaller, local, privately run facilities -- unlike the two targeted here.

State and local authorities must step up their efforts to watch the watchers wherever they work; and to weed out and fiercely prosecute those better suited to wear a number than a badge.

[Pendleton Juvenile]

We just can't wait to protect kids in custody


In a study released last Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a shocking 36.2 percent of youth confined in the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility and 22.8 percent of youth confined in the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility report being sexually abused in the past year. That makes Indiana one of the states where children are most likely to be victimized while in the government's care. Nationwide, the BJS found that an unconscionable 12.1 percent of juvenile inmates had been victimized.

Young and scared, incarcerated children typically lack the prison savvy to protect themselves -- street smarts they shouldn't even need, as the mission of youth detention systems is rehabilitation. Last week's report shows that systems like the Indiana Department of Correction, which runs both the Pendleton and Indianapolis juvenile facilities, are failing in that mission. Nothing could be more grotesquely opposed to helping troubled kids turn their lives around than allowing them to be raped. Yet, most appallingly of all, the report shows that the vast majority of those who abuse these children are the very government officials supposed to keep them safe.

Sexual abuse of children in detention is an affront to our most basic values. Those victimized in this way suffer long-term psychological problems, learned violent behavior, and serious medical conditions including HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Often, they fall into a cycle of imprisonment and further abuse. These consequences ripple through their families and communities.

But prisoner rape is preventable. Some facilities are plagued by sexual abuse while others are virtually free from this type of violence. Stopping it is a matter of committed leadership, staff who understand professional boundaries, and strong policies.

For example, juvenile facilities that consistently separate detainees who are particularly vulnerable to abuse (such as gay youth) from likely predators are able dramatically to reduce sexual violence. Those who make it clear to staff that sexual abuse of detainees simply will not be tolerated are able to minimize violence.

Last June, an expert commission issued the first national standards addressing sexual abuse behind bars, specifying exactly such policies and practices. Mandated by a federal law -- the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 -- the standards were informed by extensive research, public hearings, expert committees and hundreds of public comments on a draft version. The final recommendations represent a hard-reached consensus on best practices. Specific standards for juvenile detention facilities address core issues such as staff training, detainee education, housing, investigations and medical and mental health care in the aftermath of an assault. These common sense measures would make an enormous difference.

The standards were proposed in June 2009. According to the Prison Rape Elimination Act, the U.S. attorney general shall take no more than a year to formalize them as binding federal regulations. Unfortunately, Attorney General Eric Holder has allowed the process to drag on. Now, he may ask for as much as another year to codify them.

In a year's time, thousands more youth would be sexually abused. If the government delays needlessly, it will be failing its constitutional responsibility to protect the safety of those it locks up, who can no longer protect themselves.

The Indiana Department of Correction doesn't have to wait: It can copy the efforts of other officials who have become "early adopters'' of these pivotal measures. And Indiana's congressional delegation and other leaders can pressure the Obama administration to take swift action to formalize the standards. No one supports the sexual abuse of children -- and there can be no excuse for further delaying the most important tool known to stop prisoner rape.

[Pendleton Juvenile]

Report: Juveniles in prison are assaulted

Written by Larry Miller Tribune Staff Writer

A newly released report reveals that a growing percentage of juveniles being held in privately-owned or state operated prison facilities reported being sexually victimized while in custody during 2008 and 2009. According to the National Survey of Youth in Custody report that was released this month by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 12 percent of adjudicated youth in state operated and large locally or privately operated juvenile facilities reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another youth or facility staff.
Sexual victimization is defined as any unwanted sexual activity between youth and all sexual activity between youth and staff.

The survey was mandated by the Prison Rape Elimination Act, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the U.S. Department of Justice. According to the report, approximately 700 juveniles surveyed reported an incident involving another youth, and 2,730 reported an incident involving facility staff. Approximately 95 percent of all youth reporting staff sexual misconduct said they had been victimized by female facility staff members.

The report also identified 13 facilities as high risk for sexual victimization; one of which was Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania.

“Although the NSYC cannot uniquely identify the facility with the highest victimization rate, six facilities had rates of 30 percent or greater,” the report said. “Among ILP facilities, Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility (Indiana) recorded an overall rate of 36.2 percent and Corsicana Residential Treatment Center (Texas) recorded a rate of 32.4 percent. Among PGC facilities, Backbone Mountain Youth Center, Swanton (Maryland) had a rate of 36.4 percent; Samarkand Youth Development Center (North Carolina) and Cresson Secure Treatment Unit (Pennsylvania) had rates of 33.3 percent; and Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center-Long Term (Virginia) had a rate of 30.0 percent.”

According to the report, males were more likely to report sexual abuse by facility staff members by a figure of about 10 percent. By contrast, females were more likely to report forced sexual contact with other juveniles — almost 9 percent.

“Among youth who reported unwanted sexual activity with another youth, 43 percent said they had been victimized at least once in their room or sleeping area, and 33 percent said they had been victimized at least once in the room or sleeping area of another youth,” the report said. “Additionally, 45 percent reported at least one incident had occurred in a shower or bathroom, and 34 percent said they had been victimized in a recreation area. Nearly two-thirds of the victims said at least one incident had occurred in another common area, such as a classroom, library, kitchen, office, closet or supply room.”

The report said that youth-on-youth sexual victimization was more common in the evening hours between 6 p.m. and midnight than at any other time.

An estimated 60 percent of the youth who reported unwanted sexual activity with another youth said at least one of the incidents occurred during those hours.