Posted on 08/31/2007 8:25:51 PM PDT by Coleus
Just as schools have a duty to act as a substitute parent protecting children from harm on school grounds, county youth detention centers must keep juvenile prisoners safe from sexual predators, a state appeals court ruled yesterday. A unanimous three-judge Appellate Division panel said a former inmate could pursue a lawsuit seeking money damages against the Mercer County Youth Detention Center for failing to protect him from a female worker's sexual abuse. "A county detention center ... operates in the traditional role of a guardian toward its ward," Judge John Holston wrote in a 30-page decision ordering that the case be returned to the trial court for further proceedings.
Gregory Gogo, who represented the teenage offender, said the ruling offered an important new way to seek redress for juveniles who are abused behind bars. "What's important about this is hopefully it will improve the conditions in the centers. If the people who work there and the people responsible for the workers know they are subject to legal damages ... they'll keep a closer eye on the facility," Gogo said.
The decision could have an impact on the roughly 13,000 juveniles housed in county detention centers around the state each year, according to the state Office of Child Advocate. "This decision is one that potentially protects children in juvenile facilities, which we feel strongly is a positive and logical progression of the protection of children's rights," said Tiffany Ellis, the advocate's chief of staff. The case was also under review by the Attorney General's Office, said a spokesman.
A spokesman for Mercer County, Peter Daly, declined to comment since the case is pending. The case involves a former inmate of the Mercer County youth house. Identified in court papers as J.H., he was 17 at the time he was incarcerated in
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
As a result of the relationship, which the teenager ended shortly after his May 2003 release, J.H. suffered emotional problems including post-traumatic stress disorder, has undergone therapy and was prescribed medications, court papers said. Gogo said he did not know what the young man was doing now.
I don’t think the male anatomy responds well to “fear” at age 17.
It seems this guy is simply trying to get easy money.
As always we have no way of evaluating this case until we see the woman.
The jury has been seated.
Texas Juvenile Detention Centers Cope With Charges of Rape, Abuse(Monday, April 16, 2007)
Arrested at 15 for inappropriate sexual contact with a sibling, he expected to spend nine months in one of the 13 secure facilities or nine halfway houses run by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC); instead, he remained incarcerated for four years.During that period, he claims that guards deliberately placed him in a cell with a larger boy who raped him and encouraged gang members to break his jaw. He also said he was molested by a female staff member.
As his mother protested — interviewing 150 parents of other TYC inmates and petitioning legislators for changes in the system — Joseph said he was singled out.
"If your parents complain, you get your sentence extended," Genger insists.The TYC's official spokesman tends to agree with her.
"We have no confidence that these extensions have been used uniformly," said Jim Hurley, the agency's interim communications director. "We have suspicions that some of these may have been done to punish kids."
Now, in the wake of a scandal that has rocked the state of Texas, 1,100 extensions are being reviewed. On April 5, Joseph became one of 473 inmates released amid pressure from the Texas state legislature and Gov. Rick Perry.
[snip]
Two former administrators at the remote West Texas State School in Piyote were indicted on Tuesday on multiple sex abuse charges. Ex-assistant superintendent Ray Brookins and one-time principal John Paul Hernandez, both 41, are accused of molesting six youths, ages 16 to 19. Both maintain their innocence.
Surveillance Tapes Misplaced During Probe of Texas Juvenile Detention Centers(Tuesday, April 17, 2007)
(AP via Fox) HOUSTON — State investigators want to know why surveillance tapes from a troubled youth prison — allegedly showing a former guard entering a supply closet with a teenage girl — were never shown to the grand jury that cleared the guard of abusing the girl and two others.The tapes were discovered at Texas Youth Commission headquarters in Austin on Friday, nine days after the grand jury decided not to indict the former guard at the Ron Jackson facility in Brownwood.
Maybe she was the size and temparement of Rosie O’Donnell without her proclivities. Oh the inanity!
A female detention officer could be scary looking. Regardless of her looks, if this is true, she should be fired.
It is likely a specious case..
I think this is long overdue.
Put somebody in jail, deprive them of their freedom—that’s punishment.
Rape, by officials or by proxy is barbaric— almost mohammedan.
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