Tuesday, April 20, 1999
State looking into youth detention system, training
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — When accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced in January against three guards at the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center, Judge Mark Clark labeled it an “isolated incident.”
The guards involved, the juvenile judge said, were merely “bad apples.”
But a review by The Cincinnati Enquirer of court records reveals the alleged incidents were not unprecedented inside the Warren County complex, where young offenders from six Southwest Ohio counties are sent. Documents show that allegations of sexual improprieties by corrections and probation officers have been reported several times by inmates — both boys and girls — since 1994.
There also have been other problems at the center. One boy escaped March 28. Two others nearly escaped in 1997 after taking over the center's control room while two on-duty officers were elsewhere.
That same year, state inspectors criticized the center for a lack of training. They said guards at the Warren County facility were getting less than one-third of the state-required 32 hours of annual training.
The problems experienced in Warren County's facilities exemplify shortcomings in a statewide juvenile justice system, says Ohio's chief justice. Consequently, Ohio legislators, judges and juvenile authorities have launched a top-to-bottom review of how the state punishes its youngest criminals.
One area that should be examined, national experts say, is who oversees these juvenile facilities. In Ohio, experts on law enforcement and corrections — namely, county sheriffs or state prison officials — do not operate county juvenile detention and rehabilitation centers. County juvenile court judges have that job.
The state plays a small role in the oversight of county detention centers. The Department of Youth Services inspects the detention centers once a year. Inspectors make sure there are sprinkler systems, proper fire and public health inspections, and state-mandated training sessions.
Thomas Moyer, chief justice of Ohio, is heading the new state review. He said oversight and control of the juvenile facilities will be studied.
“I wouldn't want to say the system needs to be changed based on what happens in Warren County,” he said. “But we are aware there are deficiencies and that the system simply needs to function better.”
Across the country, there are about 500 juvenile detention facilities. Experts say judges control about one-third of them. Another third are controlled by county administrators (such as judge-executives in Kentucky). The rest are operated by states.
Ohio's system of allowing judges to run the county juvenile facilities should be changed, said Earl Dunlap, executive director of the National Juvenile Detention Association at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. The organization offers training and consultation for governments and researches issues related to the incarceration of youth.
“Judges need to do what judges do — that is, judge,” said Mr. Dunlap, a 20-year veteran of running juvenile detention centers nationwide.
Judge Clark, who has oversight of the Warren juvenile court and its detention facility, said he was “unaware of” or “not concerned about” some of the Enquirer's findings. Any problems at the center, he said, could be blamed on low wages for employees, a high staff turnover and a shortage of security cameras.
But Warren County commissioners — who could be held financially liable in any mishaps or lawsuits related to the center — expressed great concern about the incidents at the juvenile complex. A lack of “checks and balances” at the center led to the recent arrests of two former corrections officers, who were charged with sex crimes involving teen-age female inmates, Commissioner Pat South said. A third officer, accused of groping an inmate, was fired April 12 but likely will not be charged criminally because authorities said there is not enough evidence to prosecute.
“I guarantee you, we take it very seriously,” she said.
Commissioners in February shifted nearly $55,000 to the juvenile center for staff training and salary increases. Ms. South hopes that fixes the problems. “We have opened our pocketbook up and made the commitment” to improve the facility, she said.
Detention and rehab
Warren County's $5.8 million juvenile justice complex in Lebanon opened in spring 1996. It has two sections:
• The detention center, which can house two dozen youngsters. It is where convicted offenders who have not yet been sentenced are held. The average stay is seven days. About 1,200 teens went through the center in 1998.
• The Mary Haven Rehabilitation Center, where offenders who steal, abuse drugs and commit relatively nonviolent crimes are sentenced. Inmates are usually between 10 and 17 years old and sit through education and rehabilitation programs. Ninety-eight teens stayed at the center in 1998. The average sentence is about six months.
Warren County's juvenile court has contracts with Clinton and Brown counties to house their youths at the detention center. Juveniles from Fayette, Highland and Adams counties also are sentenced there.
Teen-agers who are repeat offenders or commit felonies usually are sent to prisons operated by the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
The state created facilities such as Mary Haven in Warren County because of a belief that rehabilitating teen-agers closer to their homes would be less threatening and more effective than sending them to the larger youth facilities operated by the state. There is also supposed to be closer supervision at the smaller, county rehabilitation centers.
But records maintained at the detention center show that has not always been the case in Warren County.
In 1994 a probation officer was investigated, and in 1997, a corrections officer was investigated, both for allegedly molesting teen-age boys at Mary Haven. Ages of the boys were not included on the documents. Both men resigned and neither was charged.
In the 1994 incident, the probation officer was accused of unzipping and pulling down the pants of a resident and making sexually suggestive comments to the boy. A criminal investigation by the sheriff's office cleared the probation officer, county officials said.
But Judge Clark intervened. “There wasn't any proof. I just felt I didn't want to take a chance, so I asked him to leave,” he said.
Three years later, a guard came under criminal investigation when a male Mary Haven inmate reported he had been fondled.
It wasn't the first time the guard had been in trouble. He was hired by Judge Clark in January 1997, but was forced to resign a month later. He was accused of having unsanctioned one-on-one counseling sessions with inmates in their rooms. The guard was rehired in March 1997 because the county illegally forced him to resign, said assistant county prosecutor Mike Powell.
Three months later, the guard was investigated again. Teen-age boys detained at Mary Haven told a center therapist the guard was “sneaky and creepy” and frequently would massage their shoulders and tell them, “I really like you,” records show. He also was accused of violating a “no touching” rule and entering the room of an inmate after his shift ended.
Supervisors reprimanded the guard and warned him not to repeat the infractions.
In December 1997, the same guard was accused of fondling a teen-age male inmate. That incident was referred to Warren County Children Services Board, and Lebanon police investigated it.
County prosecutors did not charge the guard because “there were problems with proof,” Mr. Powell said. “It was a one-on-one situation, and we didn't feel like, based on what we had, that it was a case to prosecute.”
The guard resigned Jan. 23, 1998.
Judge Clark said the allegations against the second guard weren't “a big deal.”
“It wasn't something I knew about or was concerned about. I think if you have someone that's guarding you and you don't like that person, that's an easy way to try to get even with them.”
Security lapses
Records also reveal security problems at the juvenile complex.
Just last month, a teen-age boy at Mary Haven slipped out a security door at the rear of the building when it was opened to let a guard out. Guards chased the boy, apprehending him on Harmon Golf Course adjacent to the juvenile complex.
On Oct. 20, 1997, two boys tried to escape. They had placed playing cards in their cell doors to block automatic locks designed to keep them inside their cells.
Then, while two corrections officers on duty were elsewhere — one was checking on an unusual noise; the other was cleaning — the boys entered the central control room.
There, they began punching buttons on the control panel in an attempt to free a teen-age female inmate to escape with them. The panel controls the facility's doors and allows corrections officers to monitor some areas via security cameras.
Their escape was thwarted, however, when the boys could not override a safety feature on the panel that prohibited two doors from opening simultaneously.
The boys were charged with attempted escape. Results of the cases are sealed because the boys are juveniles.
Neal Chamberlain, then the court's director of corrections, labeled the 1997 incident “a serious escape attempt” on an internal memo at the center. In a December 1997 memo, state officials making an annual inspection at the center declared the inci dent a “serious concern.”
“Most significant is the lack of security for the control center. ... This area is a liability for this detention center and (the juvenile court) and will continue to be until it is made secure.” The inspector recommended the court install a glass enclosure on the control panel and replace a door to prohibit unauthorized entry into the room.
More than a year later, those improvements have not been made.
“But they are in the works,” said Ron Lewis, the judge's administrative assistant.
Training problems
Records also reveal state inspectors' concerns about training lapses at the Warren County facility.
Employees of county juvenile centers must have 32 hours of training each year to meet state standards. The training is diverse — from classes about cardiopulmonary resuscitation to suicide prevention.
Inspection reports by youth services indicate guards told inspectors in 1997 that they were receiving 10 hours of annual training. Warren County juvenile officials denied the claim, saying the officers were receiving required training — it just was not properly documented. The state did not cite the center.
Judge Clark could not explain the state's criticism of his training program. “I'm sure it was offered,” he said. “But I don't know. We had to offer it. It was an option (to attend).”
Worries about training surfaced again in a May 1997 staff memo after several inmates were found with sheets, socks and other items tied around their necks in suicide attempts.
Mr. Chamberlain, who resigned in March as the court's director of corrections after the recent sex allegations surfaced, questioned whether guards knew how to handle such a situation.
“Do you know what to do in a suicide attempt? Do you know where the emergency 911 tool is kept so you can cut a kid down in a hurry if necessary? If not, ask a supervisor now!” Mr. Chamberlain wrote.
“Do you know that if a kid dies on your shift, you will be investigated? They will check your training folder, they will check all your documentation, they will question everyone involved to know if you responded properly.”
Lack of training in a juvenile corrections setting is not limited to Warren County, said Mr. Dunlap, the executive director of the National Juvenile Detention Association. “The issue of training or lack of training is pretty pervasive around the country,” he said. “Partly, what that has to do with is that juvenile detention has been an afterthought.”
Police are given at least six months of training before they hit the street on patrol, he noted.
“In detention, the worker is lucky to get three to five days of training. Yet, they are charged with dealing with our most at-risk people in the community. That is really absurd,” Mr. Dunlap said.
Some of Ohio's approaches to its juvenile detention centers are flawed, said Mark Soler, president of the Youth Law Center in Washington, D.C. The center works to improve conditions and services in juvenile detention facilities across the country.
Judges should not be charged with overseeing a center's daily operations, Mr. Soler said. “There is a problem in that judges have lots of other responsibilities and don't have time to keep track of what's going on in the facilities.”
Mr. Soler also criticized Ohio's inspections systems.
“The kinds of inspections done in the state are often the barest minimum inspections. They are looking for health and fire code violations,” he said. “They are not looking at the quality of the program or the training of the staff or other kinds of issues like that.”
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