(LEX 18) — The Justice Department has launched an investigation into conditions at eight youth detention centers and one youth development center run by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.
According to a release from the US DOJ, the investigation will look into whether or not children in the facilities are protected from "harm caused by excessive force by staff, prolonged and punitive isolation and inadequate protection from violence and sexual abuse."
The investigation will also check to see if the state provides adequate mental health services and required special education and other related services to children who have disabilities.
Detention centers, which hold children who have upcoming court hearings, will be the focus of the investigation.
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Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, “Confinement in the juvenile justice system should help children avoid future contact with law enforcement and mature into law-abiding, productive members of society. Too often, juvenile justice facilities break our children, exposing them to dangerous and traumatic conditions.” She adds, “We are launching this investigation to ensure that children in Kentucky youth detention facilities are safe from harm, receive adequate mental health care and get appropriate special education services. All children held in the custody of the state deserve safe and humane conditions that can bring about true rehabilitation and reform.”
U.S. Attorney Mike Bennett for the Western District of Kentucky said, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky stands ready to protect the rights of all children in Kentucky, including those who end up in juvenile detention.” He also said, “We look forward to partnering with the Civil Rights Division and our colleagues in the Eastern District to conduct a fair and thorough investigation of these allegations.”
The release says that detention centers nationally admit nearly 200,000 children every year and hold around 16,000 on any given night. The length of the average stay for children in detention is 27 days, and research has shown that even shorter stays can have "profound and potentially lifelong negative consequences for children."
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The investigation will be conducted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, according to the release.
This will be a joint investigation conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section with the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for the Western and Eastern Districts of Kentucky.
Anyone with information relevant to the situation is encouraged to call the department at 888-392-8241 or email Kentucky.Kids@usdoj.gov.
The Beshear-Coleman administration released a response to the news saying:
“Over the past four years, the administration has enacted the most extensive reforms to the Department of Juvenile Justice since its inception. These reforms include separating males and females into different facilities, separating those accused of significant crimes from status and lower-level offenders, providing significant raises to boost staffing and upgrading security. We have also required more training, created a compliance branch to monitor all facilities and have hired more psychologists, social workers and security experts,” said Gov. Beshear. “While the General Assembly has provided some help, it recently failed to fund two needed detention facilities, as well as a specialized residence for juveniles with extensive mental illness. Funding was also denied for additional safety improvements. The Department of Juvenile Justice will cooperate with the Department of Justice while also strongly advocating for the safety of its staff.”
Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Keith Jackson said, "Every juvenile placed in the custody of the state deserves to be safe. We have made progress on the security of our juvenile facilities; we have trained our personnel, protected juveniles and staff against violent attacks and taken corrective action against employee misconduct,” said Secretary Jackson. “We look forward to being able to talk to the Department of Justice, because as of today, no members of our leadership have been interviewed, and we have not had the opportunity to discuss any incident, policy or issue with the Department of Justice.”
The administration's release added, "The Beshear-Coleman administration has enacted [lnks.gd] the most significant reforms since the creation of the juvenile justice system, from opening the first female-only detention center, classifying male juveniles by security level and providing a more-than-$20,000 salary increase to security personnel – which increased frontline correctional officers by 63% – to reorganizing the department by function to better manage the current challenges facing detention facilities." The release continues by saying, "To comply with state statutes, this past legislative session, the Governor called for critical funding to support the department, including funding a facility to provide residential psychiatric treatment for juveniles who need it and would otherwise be placed in detention, but the request was not approved by the General Assembly.
For a full list of steps taken by the Beshear administration to reform the Department of Juvenile Justice, click here [lnks.gd]."
