By Jim Siegel
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Ohio Public Defender David Bodiker on Tuesday asked Gov. Bob Taft to step in and settle a dispute over who should handle legal complaints by juveniles locked up in state detention facilities.

Bodiker says his office has the experience and impartial approach to handle the legal oversight role.

But Department of Youth Services Director Geno Natalucci-Persichetti wants to hire outside legal counsel as part of his recent plan to address problems at two of his facilities.

Allegations of physical and sexual abuse of teenage girls surfaced at the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility in Delaware County. Additional media reports disclosed sex abuse and unlicensed workers providing therapy at the Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility's sexual-offender program.

The Children's Law Center, a Covington-based child advocacy group, said in a lawsuit last month that youth service officials ignored repeated complaints about the lack of legal services for juvenile inmates. Two of the juveniles are teens from Hamilton County.

Bodiker said that youth services employing staff to oversee legal challenges to its own system is "fraught with conflicts of interest."

"I am concerned that this proposal will be seen by the public at best as an insincere attempt to correct the conditions of confinement problems, and at worst as an attempt to cover them up," he wrote.

Andrea Kruse, spokeswoman for the youth services department, said officials are still reviewing details of the plan, but conflict of interest is not a concern.

"We are very committed to making sure that if we have deficiencies they are changed," she said. "There is no intent to cover anything up."

Bodiker's office currently handles legal appeals for juveniles, but it has no authority to handle complaints related to confinement. He would like to hire four people - attorneys and paralegals - to handle those issues.

Taft spokesman Orest Holubec said Tuesday that Taft has reviewed Natalucci-Persichetti's response plan and did not express specific concern about the issue.

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E-mail jsiegel@enquirer.com