Lawmakers seek answers regarding detention center riots

Dec. 16—A panel of state lawmakers questioned juvenile justice officials Thursday, asking them to explain what led to a violent riot at a youth detention facility in Adair County last month.

Lawmakers also demanded answers as to why a 7-year-old child died of asphyxia over the summer at a foster care facility in Louisville.

The head of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet acknowledged there are problems. Not being able to hire enough staff was cited as a primary reason.

NBC News reported in October that 7-year-old Ja'Ceon Terry died of asphyxia in July after allegedly being put in a choke hold by staff members at Brooklawn, a foster care facility.

According to NBC News, a review of records showed there had been other substantiated complaints of improper restraint prior to Terry's death.

On Nov. 11, a riot broke out at Adair Regional Detention Facility, a juvenile detention center.

News accounts say a female juvenile was sexually assaulted by several male juveniles during the riot and that staff members and other juveniles were injured.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported a riot also took place in October at a juvenile detention facility in Boyd County. The incident had not been disclosed to the public before the Herald-Leader investigation was published earlier this month.

Regarding Terry's death, Sen. Whitney Westerfield, a Hopkinsville Republican, said, "I want to know what's being done to prevent it from happening again."

Eric Friedlander, secretary for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told lawmakers, "too often, when there is a child fatality, often DCBS (the Department for Community Based Services) has been involved" previously in the child's life.

The decision to remove a child from parents and place them in foster care is difficult and is made with the goal of putting the child in better care than they left behind.

Too often, Friedlander said, "we fail in that mission."

Friedlander said DCBS social workers face "tremendous challenges" and that it has become harder to attract applicants for the jobs.

Friedlander said staff culture in foster care facilities often does not serve the needs of children, and it's common for kids entering the foster system to have severe behavioral issues.

Westerfield said he supports increasing social worker pay but that Terry died in a state facility, and "according to the news reports we've seen, this is not an isolated incident."

"This wasn't at the hands of a social worker," Westerfield said.

When asked if there were prior use of force allegations at the facility, Friedlander said, "I would say that would not be an unfounded fear."

When lawmakers appeared to become frustrated with Freidlander's answers, he said, "Please allow us to finish our investigation, and I'll be happy to come back and share."

Friedlander said the investigators are awaiting for Brooklawn officials to respond to the investigation report.

The state stopped placing children at Brooklawn after Terry's death, Friedlander said. Other children placed there by the state are in the process of being removed, he said.

Some Brooklawn workers have been fired in connection to the incident, Friedlander said, and there weren't any criminal charges pending.

When asked if the staff at Brooklawn had adequate training, Marta Miranda-Straub, DCBS commissioner, said "that is being investigated now."

The Secretary for the Justice Cabinet, Kerry Harvey, and DJJ Commissioner Vicki Reed also faced equally-pointed questions about the Adair County riot, about media reports of dangerous conditions in DJJ detention centers and the level of morale and overwork by DJJ staff.

Reed told lawmakers 48% of juvenile males in youth detention are facing capital offenses or Class A, B or C felonies.

"An increasing number of kids in detention have gang affiliations" and continue violent activity in detention, Reed said.

Harvey said DJJ has been operating under the same policies for about 20 years. Those policies include regional jails, which were designed to keep kids relatively close to their homes and attorney, with the result that "boys and girls would be housed together" in the same facility, he said.

Also, status offenders — juveniles charged with violations that only apply to minors, such as being a runaway or being truant from school — are still being housed in detention centers "with youths charged with murder," Harvey said.

Youth with serious mental illness are also being housed in juvenile detention facilities, Harvey said, adding that it "shouldn't be happening, but has happened" for years.

"I'm appalled," said Sen. Johnnie Turner, a Harlan Republican.

Westerfield said he was concerned reports of problems at juvenile detention centers were not reaching officials at the top.

Reed said DJJ has problems hiring and retaining staff members.

Harvey said he and other Cabinet officials "have spent more time trying to find money to hire staff" than on most other tasks.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday plans for to house male juveniles in separate detention centers, based on their ages and the crimes they are charged with, with a goal of implementing the new system in January. Youth detention center workers don't carry tasers or pepper spray, although plans to add them are under review.

Female juveniles are being moved to an all-female facility in Campbell County. That change wasn't made until after the reported sexual assault during the riot in Adair County, said Rep. Jason Nemes, a Louisville Republican.

Nemes and Westerfield both expressed concern that status offenders are still being placed in detention with violent offenders.

"I don't think status offenders should be in facilities at all," Westerfield said.

Sen. Danny Carroll, a Benton Republican, said the problems in the DJJ system stem from "failed leadership."

"It's a failure to have kept up with the changes that have taken place over the years," Carroll said. "I think we have fallen so far behind that we are seeing major incidents now."