The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a 73-page report stating the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) is violating the U.S. Constitution following a multi-year investigation.
Released on August 1, the report states the DOJ found children in TJJD’s five secure facilities are subjected to excessive physical and chemical force, harmful isolation, and sexual abuse.
The five facilities include, Gainesville State School, Giddings State School, Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood, McClennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mar and Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg.
The executive summary of the report states, “after an extensive investigation of conditions for children in five secure facilities operated by the TJJD, the DOJ concludes that there is reasonable cause to believe that TJJD violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Consistent with the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), we provide this report to notify Texas of DOJ’s conclusions, the facts supporting those conclusions, and the recommended minimum remedial measures necessary to address the violations identified.”
Findings of the investigation include: Children in TJJD’s secure facilities are often exposed to excessive physical and chemical force. Children also spend prolonged periods of time in isolation, under stark conditions and without access to adequate mental health and educational services. Children endure sexual abuse by both staff and other children. These conditions cause children serious harm and violate the Constitution.
Children in TJJD’s secure facilities do not receive adequate mental health assessments, treatment planning, and counseling services. TJJD also fails to provide adequate substance use disorder treatment and treatment for children who engage in self-harm or have suicidal thoughts. TJJD’s response to children’s behavior exposes children to excessive force and isolation. These deficiencies in mental health services violate the Constitution.
Children with disabilities in TJJD’s secure facilities do not receive a free appropriate public education. Special education services are not individualized to meet learning needs; fail to include specially designed instruction, behavioral supports, related services, and transition services; and are based on outdated information about children’s needs. Without appropriate services, children with disabilities cannot access the general education curriculum, preventing meaningful progress. Each of these failures violates the IDEA.
Children with disabilities in TJJD’s secure facilities do not receive reasonable modifications to complete programs required for their release. Instead, children are expelled from programming due to disability-related behavior and required to repeat it, prolonging their time in TJJD’s custody or resulting in their transfer to prison. TJJD also denies children with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from education. Both practices violate the ADA.
As hundreds of children are confined in TJJD’s secure facilities every year, yhese facilities house children ages 10years-old to 19-years-old.
A Texas county juvenile court commits children to TJJD’s custody when they are found to have committed an act that would be considered a crime if they were an adult or after they have violated the conditions of their probation or parole.
The report states problems have persisted at TJJD’s secure facilities for decades. Throughout the early 2000s, repeated allegations of physical and sexual abuse as well as operational and safety concerns—coupled with substantial efforts by highranking facility staff to cover up the misconduct—led the agency to be placed under governorordered conservatorship.
In 2007, DOJ’s investigation of the Evins facility found that TJJD failed to keep children safe from violence.
In 2011, following reports of sexual abuse and significant operational problems systemwide, the Texas legislature combined TJJD’s predecessors—the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission— into one agency.
In 2017 and 2021, Governor Abbott ordered two separate Texas Ranger investigations of sexual abuse and “potentially illegal behavior” at the facilities.
In 2021, TJJD reported that around sixty-five percent of children in its secure facilities have significant mental health issues, sixty-four percent of boys and eighty-four percent of girls report four or more traumatic events during their childhoods, and ninety-one percent of girls are identified as a clear or possible concern for being a victim of sex trafficking.
On average, children are five grade levels behind in reading and six grade levels behind in math, with about thirty percent receiving special education services In October 2021, the Special Litigation Section of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and each of the United States Attorney’s Offices in Texas opened a joint investigation of conditions for children confined in TJJD’s five secure facilities.
The report can be found at www.justice.gov in PFD form.