Most freed TYC youths will return to Harris County

[Joanne98]

Source: Houston Chronicle

As the Texas Youth Commission begins to release more than 400 juvenile offenders, the highest concentration will return to Harris County — a statistic likely to raise eyebrows in a place that has been criticized in the past for aggressive prosecution and incarceration of adult criminals.

But officials within the local juvenile justice system say the complaints aren't valid this time.

"It makes sense; we're the largest county, so we would have the largest number of youth in TYC custody," said Harvey Hetzel, executive director of Harris County Juvenile Probation.

Juvenile Judge Mike Schneider of 315th District Court said only about 3.6 percent of the youths who enter Harris County's juvenile justice system are sent to TYC. Of the 15,922 juveniles who were adjudicated last year, only 689 were sent to TYC.




Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4694731.html

[Joanne98]

1. Nightmare ends for one TYC delinquent

CORSICANA — The nightmare that was Erik Rodriguez's 18 months in a Texas Youth Commission facility, an incarceration that included a severe beating by other youths, ended Friday as he walked out of the Corsicana unit as a free man.

"There were nights that I thought, 'How am I going to get through this night?' " said the 18-year-old San Antonio native.

"It's been a long time," Rodriguez said. "I paid my dues. I'm not ever going back."

Rodriguez is among 473 youths who are being immediately released from the TYC system because they have served their sentences but were still incarcerated.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4694911.html

[Joanne98]

2. TYC, aiming for 'clean slate,' fires 11 at Mart, Marlin facilities

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Eleven people who work for youth prison facilities in Central Texas, including a controversial former sheriff, are being fired because of their criminal histories.

The employees are among 40 statewide who are being terminated by the Texas Youth Commission because of past brushes with the law. All either have been convicted of a felony or have received deferred probation for a felony-level crime.

With the latter, there is no final finding of guilt if people successfully complete their probation. Thus, they don’t have convictions on their records.

But the TYC doesn’t see much of a distinction, spokesman Jim Hurley told the Tribune-Herald. Whether people plead guilty to a crime or plead no contest to get deferred probation, they are essentially admitting they violated the law, he said.
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/07/04072007wacTYCfirings.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. That is a remarkable story.

It sounds like up to now, there has been exactly no accountability in the system. None. Just patronage and a good ol' boy network.

[Joanne98]

7. It's a huge mess and their going to try and bury it. I hope more people

pay attention. Putting children in cages and raping them is a story that should go global. It's a perfect example of how bad US polices are.

[Joanne98]

3. Hundreds to be released from prisons;

Hundreds to be released from prisons; teens talk of poor treatment, future
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/040707dnprotyc.395a074.html

11:55 PM CDT on Friday, April 6, 2007
By DOUG J. SWANSON and GREGG JONES / The Dallas Morning News
[e-mail] and [e-mail]

Like dozens of others, 18-year-old Erik Rodriguez walked out of a Texas Youth Commission prison Friday, his sudden freedom a byproduct of the scandal that has swept the state's juvenile justice agency.

MELANIE BURFORD/DMN
Alice Smith held her son Erik Rodriguez, who also was met by grandparents Lupe and Janie Fuentez upon release Friday. "This isn't just about me," Mr. Rodriguez said after the Corsicana prison's heavy door slammed shut behind him. "It's about every teenager, every kid who gets mistreated in TYC facilities ... every kid who gets stepped on, who gets their rights violated every single day and who gets treated like an animal."

TYC's newly installed management had freed more than 100 inmates by the end of the day Friday, part of its efforts to purge and clean up the troubled agency. Spokesman Jim Hurley said 473 juveniles will have been released within days to family members or guardians.

Until this week, TYC held about 4,700 inmates, ages 10 to 21. Most are repeat offenders who engaged in property crimes, although TYC also holds those who committed rape, kidnapping and murder.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/040707dnprotyc.395a074.html

[youngdem]

4. TYC juvenile jails harden children in the same way that prison hardens adults

and in some ways, worse.

(I used to work with TYC kids @ a private foundation where we would get level 5 (the worst) kids from TYC centers)

They were abused, gamed with rules, and they in fact had it worse in some ways than adult prisoners because adult prisoners had many more rights. Juvenile prisoners who had no active parent or lawyer or CASA worker suffered horribly. And they received very little in the way of competent therapy or medication, almost universally needed by every child we ever saw in the system.

TYC is a horribly underfunded child prison scheme. It needs to be overhauled in a major way, and part of the solution must be that caretakers get more per child. Right now, you almost guarantee neglect, abuse or at least poor treatment of underlying causes of recidivism if you don't fund these children better. (foster kids too)

[Joanne98]

5. Do you know what's going to happen to them after they get out?

It seems like a good chance to advance an alternetive solution. Any private foundations working on this?

[youngdem]

8. Sorry, I don't know

I don't work for them anymore and don't even live in the state anymore.

What is likely to happen in my estimation is a non-apology apology, followed by no follow up, followed by a high recidivism rate and reincaceration. The other kids will just languish in foster care or age out of the system, and a lucky few will actually go home (hopefully not to re-offend).

Many of the private foundations I saw and worked with went under because the state paid too little per child to provide safe, substantive care, so the foundations either went broke, got sued when something went wrong, or quit before either happened.

The state is just too cheap with these kids, and it comes back to bite you in the ass every time, because these kids act out when they aren't cared for. If we paid more on the front end(social services) as a society , we sure would pay a lot less on the back end (law enforcement, prisons and victim losses).

[Joanne98]

9. Thanx for you imput!

:hi: