This seems to be an old, continuing epidemic story of prison slave torture in this land of the "slave and the brave". It doesn't merely apply to middle class Congressional pages and Foley. Some one, somewhere will expose the link past Gonzales and directly to Bush/Cheney. We know it happens in Iraqi prisons as it has always been a common punishment and torture of prison slaves throughout this guilty nation, and "any place subject to their jurisdiction".
Associated Press (AP)
March 6, 2007
Raped by the State
Sexual-abuse Scandal rocks Texas juvenile system
By Alicia A. Caldwell
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stori...
VIDEO
Pyote, Texas -- For at least two years, investigators say, boys at a
juvenile prison in the West Texas desert were summoned from their
dorms late at night and taken to darkened conference rooms, offices
and ball fields for sex with two of the institution's top
administrators.
The boys told their parents, their teachers, any staff member who
would listen. A few diligent staff members took their complaints to
their supervisors. But the allegations were largely covered up until
last month, when they exploded in the biggest scandal ever to engulf
the Texas juvenile prison system (http://www.tyc.state.tx.us/programs/
westtexas/index.html).
The No. 1 and No. 2 officials at the Texas Youth Commission have lost
their jobs over their handling of the allegations. Prosecutors are
looking into criminal charges. And lawmakers are infuriated.
"What scares me the most is what I don't know", said state Senator
John Whitmire, chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee.
The allegations became public when the Dallas Morning News cited a
never-released 2005 Texas Rangers report that said 13 boys were
molested at the West Texas State school, a red-brick institution
ringed by razor wire in a desolate part of the state. Since then,
others have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse at other
juvenile prisons across Texas.
Lawmakers were outraged to learn that the two men accused of molesting
boys at the West Texas State School (WTSS) - Ray Brookins, an
assistant superintendent who temporarily ran the place, and Principal
John Paul Hernandez - were quietly allowed to resign in 2005 with no
criminal charges. (Hernandez took a job as the director of a nearby
charter school, which accepted his resignation last week).
Attempts to reach Hernandez and Brookins by telephone and at their
homes were unsuccessful. Hernandez previously denied wrongdoing.
The Texas Youth Commission oversees 7500 youths - including some of
the most dangerous offenders, ages 10 to 21 - and operates 15 prisons,
nine halfway houses and numerous treatment and counseling centers.
Among the parents to come forward with horror stories since the
scandal broke is Genger Galloway, who told lawmakers this week that
her 19-year-old son finally told her Saturday about abuse he suffered
when he was held a juvenile prison in central Texas at age 15.
"They've tried to figure out why he's so angry and why he's so hurt
and why he won't talk", Galloway said. "And it's because he doesn't
feel safe in there".
Galloway said that her son, who has been jailed for molesting his
siblings, was sexually assaulted by a female staff member and beaten
and sodomized by a male inmate in 2003.
Mary Jane Martinez of San Antonio told lawmakers last week that her
son also was sexually assaulted at a juvenile jail. "My son is home,
but he is not the same since he was raped in the TYC," she said. She
said her 17-year-old son "is so ashamed of himself he built a wall".
Randal Chance, a retired inspector general with the Texas Youth
Commission and author of the book "Raped by the State", said the
routine mistreatment of children by the TYC has long been ignored.
"This one here, it finally snuck out", he said.
Investigators said that at Pyote, Brookins and other administrators
used intimidation to suppress complaints about sexual abuse.
On Tuesday, Jay Kimbrough, an outsider appointed by Governor Rick
Perry to look into the widening scandal, said investigators are being
sent to 22 Texas Youth Commission institutions and the agency
headquarters to investigate claims of abuse of inmates.
In a warning to any agency employees who may have molested inmates, he
said: "If you are part of this gig, you need to move on or we're going
to find you and prosecute you".
Since the scandal broke in February, Executive Director Dwight Harris
has resigned, TYC board chairman Pete C. Alfaro has been fired, and
Lemuel "Chip" Harrison, who led the West Texas State School when the
abuses allegedly occurred before he was promoted to one of four
directors of juvenile corrections, has been suspended.
TYC spokesman Tim Savoy acknowledged mistakes at the Pyote prison.
"When you take a number of years and condense it down to a concise
report, you can easily see how it all fits together", Savoy said.
He said Brookins never should have been promoted and probably should
have been fired in 2001, when he was disciplined for looking at adult
pornography on a state computer.
At the Pyote prison, acting Superintendent Curtis Simmons said at a
staff meeting last week that what happened two years ago "was a shame,
but it is no reflection on what we do" now.
"This is a kid facility", Simmons said. "We treat kids with
compassion".
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Texas_Juvenile_Scandal....
No comments:
Post a Comment