Teen Freed From Lock Up Amid Sex Abuse Claims--October 9th, 2010 (source: miamiherald.com)--A teen was

released from a state juvenile lockup in Pembroke Pines amid claims in a federal lawsuit that youths held there had

endured "horrific" abuse.  For complete story, click here.

Death of Beloved Human Rights Activist--Deborah Ann Morgan--(October 17th, 1985 to September 8th, 2010)--

Deborah Morgan's courage and passion for justice will be remembered by all who knew her.  Morgan was a survivor of

SLS Health and championed the fight for justice to stop the abuse.  There is no adequate reason for why she is gone.

The State of NY has officially pulled all three of SLS Health's licenses.  The lawsuit is nearly complete.  And, hope

was and continues to be restored for the victims.  Deborah Morgan will always be remembered as a hero to everyone

at HEAL.   

McDermott of Springfield was allegedly beaten by two guards while an inmate at the Sangamon Juvenile Center,

2201 South Dirksen Parkway, according to his parents, Barb Howell of Springfield and Jeff McDermott of Champaign.

The detention center holds young prisoners in custody while the county court system decides what to do with them.

Dalton was incarcerated at the juvenile center while awaiting sentencing for a spray-painting incident, Howell says.

Jeff McDermott says the beating apparently resulted from a misunderstanding about a commonly-used slang term in

the Juvenile Center. Dalton apparently said he and his classmates in the detention center were going to "gun," or

make fun of, a teacher, and he was given the equivalent of a time-out. He then "mouthed off" to the guards who

were to escort him to his cell, McDermott says.

"They grabbed him by the back of his neck while he was walking out of the classroom and slammed him into the

wall," McDermott says. "He was handcuffed, and they kneed him while he was on the ground. He had marks on both

ankles and his throat."

As a result of the beating, Dalton received a concussion, a fractured neck and internal bleeding, according to medical

records and photographs provided by his parents. He is now in the state detention center in St. Charles, awaiting

assignment to another state detention center.  For complete story, click here.

advocacy groups have alleged that widespread abuse continues in the Texas juvenile prison system, almost four

years after a sex abuse and cover-up scandal forced sweeping reforms.

The groups submitted a formal complaint asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate conditions in the Texas

Youth Commission, the Austin American-Statesman reported in its online edition Tuesday.

The complaint filed by Texas Appleseed, Advocacy Inc., the Center for Public Representation and the National Center

for Youth Law accused the commission of failing to protect the 1,700 juvenile inmates in its system because of short

staffing and the use of improper restraints and excessive force.

A commission statement issued Tuesday said it has worked with two of the groups for three years to address the

issues "and will work to fully investigate any allegations" in the complaint.

According to the newspaper, the complaint also alleged that juveniles are not provided adequate medical and mental

health care and educational programs. Also, it contends the number of youth-on-youth assaults in commission

facilities in Beaumont and Corsicana remain high. Those centers had the second-highest rate of sexual assault

among the nation's juvenile prisons last year, according to a federal report.  For complete story, click here.

private Putnam County-based mental-health provider that treats teens and young adults to surrender its operating

certificates after the mental-health commissioner upheld charges that the for-profit facility violated patients' rights

and ignored state regulations.  For complete story, click here.

Wednesday called for a former Texas Youth Commission official to be brought to trial quickly, almost six years after

he was accused of molesting at least four teenage boys in what became a statewide abuse scandal.

Scott Medlock , an Austin attorney who represents one of the four victims in separate pending civil litigation, said at

a news conference that it is unbelievable and outrageous that former West Texas State School Principal John Paul

Hernandez is still awaiting trial.

"More than three years after the public learned about these disgusting assaults, Hernandez's victims are still waiting

for justice," said Medlock, director of the organization's Prisoners' Rights Program. "Prosecuting these men shows

that if you abuse kids in TYC, you will be held accountable. Further delay undermines creating a culture of

accountability."

In a statement, the victim — now 25 — said he wants to "stop what happened to me from being covered up."

"I need to move on with my life, and I can't do that until the man who violated me faces justice," the victim said in

the statement. "I'm still struggling and I need some closure."  For complete story, click here.

Times, August, 8, 2010  For complete story, click here.

disorders--July 7th, 2010  Canada seems to be seeing the light.  When will the US?  We're waiting.  For more on the

story, click here.

with Strickland Youth Center to help troubled teens was arrested Friday and charged with raping a young girl,

prosecutors said.

Sherman Fitzgerald Tate, 33, was being held in Mobile County Metro Jail on charges of second-degree rape and

second-degree sodomy.  For complete story, click here.

detention centre after closing a county-run facility  Former Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan has pleaded guilty to

a racketeering conspiracy charge for helping put juvenile defendants behind bars in exchange for bribes.

He is accused along with former judge Mark Ciavarella of taking $2.8m (£1.8m) from a profit-making detention

centres. Mr Ciavarella denies wrongdoing.

The two pleaded guilty last year but a federal judge tossed out part of the plea agreement for being too lenient.

Conahan faces up to 20 years in jail.

US District Judge Edwin Kosik rejected the 87-month jail term set out last year in Conahan's agreement. Under that

deal, the former judge would have been able to back out if he was dissatisfied with his sentence.

Judge Kosik has accepted Conahan's current plea agreement with prosecutors, which has no such get-out clause.

Cash for kids
Prosecutors in a federal court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, said Conahan had closed a county-owned juvenile detention

centre in 2002, just before signing an agreement to use a for-profit centre.

Prosecutors say Mr Ciavarella, a former juvenile court judge, then allegedly worked with Mr Conahan to ensure a

constant flow of detainees.

The two men were originally charged in early 2009 with accepting money from the builder and owner of a for-profit

detention centre that housed county juveniles in exchange for giving children longer, harsher sentences. 

For complete story, click here.

troubled youth prisons will be placed under federal oversight, strict new limits will be imposed on the use of physical

force by guards, and dozens of psychiatrists, counselors and investigators will be hired under a sweeping agreement

finalized on Wednesday between state and federal officials.

The agreement will usher in the most significant expansion of mental health services in years for youths in custody,

the vast majority of whom suffer from drug or alcohol problems, developmental disabilities or mental health problems.

Currently, the state does not have a single full-time psychiatrist on staff to treat young offenders.

Guards at the youth prisons, known as youth counselors, will be barred from physically restraining youths except

when a person’s physical safety is threatened or a youth is trying to escape from the institution.

Guards will be allowed to use the most controversial method — in which a youth is forced to the ground and held

face-down — for at most three minutes, with evaluation by a doctor to follow within four hours.

The accord comes almost a year after the Justice Department threatened to take over New York’s juvenile justice

system unless the state took significant steps to rectify problems at the four prisons, where physical abuse was

rampant and mental health counseling was scant or nonexistent.

“It is New York’s fundamental responsibility to protect juveniles in its custody from harm and to uphold their

constitutional rights,” Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division,

said in a statement. “We have worked cooperatively with New York officials to craft an agreement to ensure that the

constitutional rights of juveniles at the four facilities are protected, and we commend New York and the New York

State Office of Children and Families for their willingness to work aggressively to remedy these problems.”

Federal investigators found that staff members at the four institutions — the Lansing Residential Center and the

Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center, in Lansing, and two residences, one for boys and one for girls, at Tryon

Residential Center in Johnstown — routinely used physical force to discipline the youths, resulting in broken bones,

shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries in a period of less than two years.

Gov. David A. Paterson said in a statement, “With this historic settlement agreement, New York takes another step

towards achieving true transformation of our juvenile justice system.”

Mr. Paterson, who has been trying to address problems plaguing the juvenile system, introduced legislation in June

to let judges sentence youths to juvenile prisons only if they had been found guilty of a violent crime or a sex crime

or were deemed to be a serious threat to themselves or others. Juvenile prisons house those convicted of criminal

acts, from truancy to murder, who are too young to serve in adult jails and prisons.

The federal inquiry began in 2007 after a spate of episodes, including the 2006 death of a disturbed 15-year-old after

two employees at the Tryon center pinned him down on the ground.  For complete story, click here.

worried that Benchmark Regional Hospital is struggling with ongoing violence, escapes and even a riot by patients,

including sex offenders and troubled teens. But getting detailed information from the hospital itself is proving

problematic.

And that’s frustrating city officials who say hospital administrators are stonewalling the release of information to the

city.

“We don’t know what they are going to do,” Woods Cross City Administrator Gary Uresk said. We’re just looking at all

our options. The city feels that it needs to take a pro-active stance. I think there are other issues there that need to

be looked into,” he recently told the Clipper. He said he and council members are also concerned that the hospital is

hiding behind federal privacy laws to keep city officials from finding out.  For complete story, click here.

juvenile died at a detention center in East Tennessee.

Hamilton County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Janice Atkinson said investigators are not yet saying what

caused the juvenile’s death at the center in Chattanooga.

She says the death was reported to her about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, but further information on the youth wasn’t yet

available.  For complete story, click here.

of Correction officials told a federal panel they are working to correct a pattern of sexual victimization of young

inmates at a state juvenile correctional facility.

Department of Correction Commissioner Edwin Buss and his staff testified Thursday before a three-member

Department of Justice review panel on prison rape,6News' Joanna Massee reported.

It comes after a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 36 percent of inmates at the Pendleton Juvenile

Correctional Facility reported being sexually abused, about three times higher than the national average.

Pendleton Superintendent Linda Commons said she was aware of sexual abuse at the facility, but was shocked by

the report.  For complete story, click here.

officials who were "flabbergasted" at the level of sexual abuse reported at Woodland Hills Youth Development Center

told a federal panel Friday the steps they've taken to reduce staff misconduct.

But Steven Hornsby, deputy commissioner of the Department of Children's Services, also questioned the survey

results that found one in four youths at Woodland reported sexual abuse by staffers, which ranked the facility among

the worst in the country.

Hornsby, a former trial lawyer and judge, said Woodland Hills routinely gets top grades from outside auditors. He

questioned the lack of corroboration for children anonymously reporting abuse when counselors, teachers and guards

hadn't reported anything.

"I don't want to sound defensive," he told the Justice Department's Review Panel on Prison Rape, which held a

hearing on the survey results. "There were no students -- zero reports -- of student sexual victimization during the

time period that information was requested" during the survey.

The January results of the National Survey of Youth in Custody surprised Hornsby because a national accreditation

panel gave Woodland Hills a nearly perfect score -- penalizing only the ventilation system and the size of cells -- and

state-level investigators found no widespread abuse. Another accreditation review is scheduled in August.

"We were shocked," Hornsby said. "I think my word was just flabbergasted."  For complete story, click here.

juveniles at the Dallas County jail was sentenced this morning to 10 years in prison for molesting youths in his

classes.

The sentence was handed down by State District Judge Gracie Lewis shortly after a jury found Luis Enrique Santos

guilty of two counts of sexual assault of a child.

The judge sentenced de los Santos to 10 years on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.

De Los Santos, who testified in his own defense, claimed he was innocent and that his accusers were liars.

When the guilty verdicts were read, he shook his head.

Jurors returned to the court after finishing their deliberations so they could watch the judge sentence de los Santos.

The jurors declined to comment afterward.

During closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutor James Bagnall showed jurors a Kit Kat bar, a 20-ounce Coca-Cola

and a McDonald's bag.

He said the items were representative of the gifts de los Santos used to lure incarcerated boys into sex. The

prosecutor said de los Santos developed "a sexual molester relationship" with the youths, who were 14 to 16.

Calvin Johnson, de los Santos' attorney, said in his closing argument that the youths accusing his client were

"not regular kids" and could not be trusted. The youths were in jail after being ordered to stand trial as adults for

crimes including aggravated assault of a police officer and capital murder.

Testifying in his own defense Wednesday, de los Santos said of his accusers, "They lied about everything."

He was accused of performing oral sex on at least two boys in a jail bathroom near the classroom in 2008.

Prosecutors said de los Santos, an instructor who worked for the Dallas Independent School District, wrote sexually

explicit notes to students and promised them marijuana and pornographic photos.

De los Santos testified that he used bad judgment in writing the notes. In bringing them candy and other foods from

the outside world, he said, he was trying to reward the students.

Two youths testified that de los Santos threatened to influence their criminal cases to make their punishments worse

if they did not cooperate with his advances.  For complete story, click here.

on Indiana to address abuses within its juvenile correction facilities after reports of young inmates sexually

assaulted by guards and living in filth.

A Jan. 29 letter and report from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez to Gov. Mitch Daniels details troubles

within the former Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility, including a mentally ill inmate left dirty and pulling out

her hair and male guards having sex with and performing strip searches on young female inmates, 6News' Joanna

Massee reported.

"The sexualized environment at the facility appears rampant," the letter read.

The letter follows a civil rights investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2008 that documented

inadequate abuse investigations, excessive use of force and isolation, inadequate mental health care and inadequate

special education services.  For complete story, click here.

Investigators dug deep into Michigan’s tragically-flawed foster care system. During our investigation, we uncovered

the heartbreaking story of a 10-year-old boy who starved to death while a facility banked cash to care for him.

We began telling Johnny’s story over the last two days here on WXYZ.com. In that time, the response has been

overwhelming and your comments confirm that Michigan’s children need a better foster care system.

Johnny’s mother, Elena Andron, dedicated her life to caring for her wheelchair-bound son. All she wanted was a little

help.

The state’s answer was to put him in a foster care facility. One year later, Johnny starved to death. 

For complete story, click here.

up in Florida. Apparently, you can  get punished in the state before committing a crime, too.

An extremely troubling new partnership between the Florida Department  of Corrections and IBM wants to use

software to predict which  juveniles will commit crimes in the future, so "the best course of  treatment" can be

chosen. Hey, why wait for juveniles to commit  crimes, if we can start their "rehabilitation" now?

The Florida DOC says that by using predictive analytics software, it  can "analyze key predictors such as past offense

history, home life  environment, gang affiliation and peer associations to better  understand and predict which youths

have a higher likelihood to  reoffend."

What about talking to the kids to determine the best course of  action? People are unpredictable and complex; they

aren't data  points. Juveniles should be taught that the world is open to them,  and that they are the agents of their

own destiny — not that they fit  into the bottom half of a spreadsheet, and therefore need extra  mandatory

counseling or placement in a group home.  For complete story, click here.

educator at the Bromley Brook School pleaded guilty on Wednesday to having sexual contact with a 16-year-old

student at the school on three occasions between Sept. 1 and Oct. 14.

Stephen F. Peters, 40, of Woodford, pleaded guilty in Bennington District Court to three misdemeanor charges of

sexual exploitation of a minor. The state dismissed a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child that

had been brought in December.

Bennington County State's Attorney Christina Rainville said the state had dismissed the charge because her office's

investigators believed that while the student was credible, the incident did not constitute a criminal act. The lewd

and lascivious conduct charge involved a different student who was 12 when she spoke to police.

Under a plea agreement, Peters is expected to serve six to 12 months in prison on each count with the sentences to

be served consecutively, but the prison time will be suspended. Instead, Peters is expected to serve five years on

probation under sex offender conditions and undergo sex offender treatment.  For complete story, click here.

group of 6 troubled teen students and 2 staff members from Abundant Life Academy (www.abundantlifeacademy.com)

recently returned from a week long mission trip to James Cistern, Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The team from ALA was

working with a mission organization called Bahamas Habitat. The main work of Bahamas Habitat is to provide quality

housing to those in need. This work includes both needed improvements to existing homes, as well as construction of

new homes. The ALA team was involved in the building of a new home for Ms. Pinder. 

(Webmaster Note: Title changed by webmaster for editorial effect.)

Redmond's SageWalk Wilderness School could soon be facing homicide charges, for the death of a Portland teen on a

class hiking trip last August.  That is, if the Lake County district attorney goes along with the recommendation of the

chief investigator in the case.  For complete story, click here.

foster child before the boy committed suicide last year has received a warning from federal drug regulators who say

he failed ``to protect the rights, safety and welfare'' of children enrolled in clinical drug trials.

In a strongly worded letter dated Feb. 4, regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Dr. Sohail

Punjwani over-medicated children who were enrolled in clinical trials for undisclosed drugs. One girl, the letter said,

slashed her wrists while hallucinating.

Another, a 13-year-old, ``experienced sedation and dizziness during the study,'' the letter said.

The warning letter, a harsh and rare form of discipline by the agency, says Punjwani failed to ``adhere to the

applicable statutory requirements and FDA regulations governing the conduct of clinical investigations.'' 

For complete story, click here.

today is what has become known as the “school to prison pipeline,” a term used to describe an all too common

reality for poor-performing students. First they are academically unsuccessful, then their misbehavior results in

school disciplinary action, then their misbehavior puts them into the juvenile justice system, then they leave school

prematurely and eventually end up as incarcerated adults.For complete story, click here.

Minnesota, a Twin Cities nonprofit that ran small group homes for deeply troubled teens, closed its doors Friday. 

For complete story, click here.

the administrative judge of  the New York City Family Courts for nine months, in charge of the  judges responsible for

the detention of dozens of young people  charged with crimes, the vast majority of whom suffer from some form 
of mental illness.

But it was not until last September that she was informed of what 
struck her as a startling fact: The State of New York does not have a 
single full-time staff psychiatrist charged with overseeing treatment 
of the 800 or so young people who are detained in state facilities at 
any given time.

“There wasn’t one human being on-site overseeing all the mental 
health needs of the population,” Judge Richardson-Mendelson said in 
an interview. “When we place these children in these facilities, we 
expect their needs to be met, especially their mental health needs.”

Yet all 17 psychiatrists at the detention facilities in the state’s 
deeply troubled juvenile justice system work on contract and part 
time. Weeks often pass between their visits with each troubled youth, 
and officials say their turnover rate is extremely high.  For complete story, click here.

for reaching out to troubled teens was charged Monday with six counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sex with an

under-aged boy.  The Rev. Russell Schaller, 35, of River Rouge, senior pastor at Greater St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church on Detroit's east

side, was arraigned in 26th District Court and ordered held in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.   For complete story, click here.

charges have been laid against a former Foster Family of the Year award winner who has cared for up to 55 children

over the past two decades.

In June 2009, police received information that Garry Prokopishin, a director for the Calgary and District Foster Parents

Association, was allegedly offering troubled teens in his care money for sexual acts.

This has prompted an immediate review by Alberta Children and Youth Services.  For complete story, click here.

investigating a complaint that a juvenile living at the Green Isle Children's Ranch abused another as many as five

other kids living at the facility, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said.  For complete story, click here.

educational facility for at-risk youth, 204 Depot Street, will be closing this week and leaving 10 people without jobs,

according to William Bryan, president of the Board of Directors of SEALL Inc.

"The decision was made to cease making referrals. Statewide (the Department of Children and Families,) told us,

they have to cut between 12 and 18 beds. We were only filling roughly 10 of those beds so that their other programs

will have to feel our pain as well," Bryan said.

204 Depot Street, which will close on Feb. 6, serves older adolescent boys, between the ages of 15 and 17, through a

residential educational program that lasts at least a year. It is run by SEALL Inc., a local nonprofit organization with

a board of eight people.  For complete story, click here.

shutting it doors at the end of this month.  For complete story, click here.

Probation Camps--January 12th, 2010--  LOS ANGELES – An alliance of legal groups including the American Civil

Liberties Union and the ACLU of Southern California today filed a ground-breaking class-action lawsuit against the

Los Angeles County Probation Department and top county education officials for their total failure to provide youth in

the county's largest juvenile probation facility with basic and appropriate education. The failure has resulted in

children not being adequately prepared to re-enter society and the workforce.  For complete story, click here.

issued Thursday finds 13 juvenile detention facilities around the country have high rates of sex abuse and

victimization, where nearly 1 out of every 3 inmates reported some type of victimization.  A Justice Department study

has found that nationwide, about 12% of youths held in state-run, privately-run, or local facilities reported  some

type of sexual victimization — but those rates varied widely  from place to place.  For complete story, click here.

Services subjected 500 troubled youths in state detention to violent physical restraint, and routinely denied them

legally required mental health care services, nine children and their parents claim in a federal class action.

     Among other wanton acts, state employees regularly employ a dangerous form of control known as prone restraint

- having two adults hold the youth face-down on the floor while his hands are held or cuffed behind him. Prone

restraint exposes the victim to risk of cardiac and respiratory arrest, back, arm and neck injuries, abrasions, strained

muscles and head injuries, according to the complaint.

     Such treatment led to the 2006 death of a Bronx teen at the Tryon Boys' Residential Center in Johnston, and

serious mental and physical injuries to scores of others, the complaint states.

     The families claim that OCFS Commissioner Gladys Carrion allowed the behavior to continue despite red flags

raised by the U.S. Justice Department and a blue-ribbon panel appointed by Gov. David Patterson.

     The nine named plaintiffs, all of whom are identified by only their initials, said their treatment violated the 14th

Amendment, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

For complete story, click here.

personal experiences at a place called The Utah Boys Ranch, which models itself as a "tough-love" prep-school, but

while Eric was there, he witnessed some unbelievable atrocities. It is a Mormon-funded and staffed facility, and

religious indoctrination is a fundamental aspect of the school. There was sexual, physical, and emotional abuse,

suicide, staff corruption, and escape. A major Utah political figure, Senator Chris Buttars, was the executive director

while Eric was there.  See Video below or click here for more on this story.

has indicted a former Whittell High School administrator on felony charges of aggravated battery, invasion of privacy,

and four counts of first degree cruelty to children.

Richard Darrington, 37, was hired as Whittell's dean of students at the beginning of the school year, but lost the

position when the Nevada Department of Education revoked his substitute teaching license after learning of

outstanding battery charges facing him in Georgia.

The charges stem from Darrington's time in the southern state, where he operated a private school for teens called

Darrington Academy for five years.

The bill of indictment, which lists 23 grand jurors of the Superior Court of Fannin County, alleges that Darrington

“did maliciously cause bodily harm” to one of his students “by seriously disfiguring his tooth,” resulting in the

aggravated battery charge.

The invasion of privacy charge alleges that Darrington placed a recording device in a girls' room and observed and

recorded their activities without consent.

The four counts of cruelty to children allege that Darrington forced students to stand outside in freezing weather with

no shirts, shoes or socks on two separate occasions, that he slammed a girl's head into a wall, and that he stood on

a boy's ankles while in a “tripod” position and also slammed his head into a wall.

In addition to Darrington, three other teachers at the school were included in the indictment; one for invasion of

privacy and six counts of cruelty to children, and the other two for two counts each of cruelty to children. 

(For complete story, click here.)

York’s juvenile prisons have  suffered bruises, cuts and a host of other injuries from aggressive  physical restraining

practices that violate their legal and  constitutional rights, according to a federal lawsuit filed on  Wednesday.

The class-action suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan on behalf  of roughly 500 youths in 10 of the prisons, also

accuses the Office  of Children and Family Services, the state agency that runs the  facilities, of failing to provide

adequate mental health services

The legal claim follows two withering reports from the United States  Department of Justice and a state task force

that portrayed the  state’s juvenile justice system as so riddled with problems that it  needed a complete overhaul.

The suit seeks an injunction that would sharply limit the use of  force by youth counselors and require the state to

provide the youths  with more treatment for mental health problems, which affect a vast  majority of those in

custody.  For complete story, click here.

Thomas J.S. Waxter Children's Center, a  sign cautions that you are under camera surveillance. Notices warn 
against bringing in contraband - glass bottles, cigarettes, weapons.

A metal detector sits in the front hall. You pass through a locked  metal door to reach the residential wings.

Down the hallway, the staff supervision room is separated from the  children by a thick metal cage.

On a Wednesday in September, a girl stands shackled in the hall, the  cuffs around her hands and ankles connected

by a metal chain.

This is Waxter, the only long-term, secure treatment facility for  female juvenile offenders run by the state.

"Nothing's worse than Waxter, dead serious, nothing's worse," said  Britney McCoy, 19, who has been in and out of

Waxter and other  facilities since she was 12. She was most recently in Waxter in 2008.

McCoy is not Waxter's only critic. The Juvenile Justice Monitoring  Unit of the attorney general's office has noted a

litany of problems  at Waxter, including: allegations by girls that they are physically  abused by staff members;

mingling of girls convicted of serious  crimes with girls held for minor offenses; inadequate physical  facilities; and

overcrowding and understaffing, which lead to violence.

"No one should have to live there. No one should have to work there,"  said Claudia Wright, who monitors the facility

for the Juvenile  Justice Monitoring Unit.  For complete story, click here.

was so traumatized by his deplorable treatment in the Montana State Prison that he twice attempted to kill himself

by biting through the skin on his wrist to puncture a vein, a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties

Union of Montana alleges.

The lawsuit filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court claims that the boy, “Robert Doe,” has been treated

illegally and inhumanely and has been detained for about 10 months in solitary confinement.  Doe was Tasered as

part of a “behavior modification plan,” pepper-sprayed and stripped naked in view of other inmates, the complaint 

states.  For complete story, click here.

stark disparity: children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher

than children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to receive the drugs for

less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts, the data shows.  For complete story, click here.

is not allowing WBEZ to examine the state's juvenile prisons.  For four months WBEZ has been trying to negotiate

some access to the prisons. Last week, Quinn's staff told us there would be none. We said we would report that

denial. Later that day, we were offered a single tour of one of the better facilities, an offer WBEZ accepted, but an

offer which would not allow the public meaningful insight into the hundred million dollar department that has care of

some of the most troubled and troubling kids in Illinois. Bob Reed is the governor's spokesman. He says they're

working on their own review of the facilities.  For complete story, click here.

in Rutherford County who helps keep at-risk youth on the right track is accused of assaulting one of the troubled

teens.  For complete story, click here.  For more on this story, click here.

state-subsidized facility north of Cleveland that helps troubled teens, is set to close Dec. 31.

The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities announced last week that the White

County program was no longer financially sustainable.  For complete story, click here.

American Youth in the 21st Century: Pathologized, Criminalized and Disposable--November 16th, 2009--

Punishment and fear have replaced compassion and social responsibility as the most important modalities mediating

the relationship of youth to the larger social order. Youth within the last two decades have come to be seen as a

source of trouble rather than as a resource for investing in the future, and in the case of poor black and Hispanic

youth are increasingly treated as either a disposable population, cannon fodder for barbaric wars abroad, or the

source of most of society’s problems. Hence, young people now constitute a crisis that has less to do with

improving the future than with denying it. As Larry Grossberg points out, “It has become common to think of

kids as a threat to the existing social order and for kids to be blamed for the problems they experience. We slide

from kids in trouble, kids have problems, and kids are threatened, to kids as trouble, kids as problems, and

kids as threatening.” This was exemplified when the columnist Bob Herbert reported in the New York Times that

“parts of New York City are like a police state for young men, women, and children who happen to be black or

Hispanic. They are routinely stopped, searched, harassed, intimidated, humiliated and, in many cases, arrested

for no good reason.” No longer “viewed as a privileged sign and embodiment of the future,” youth are now

increasingly demonized by the popular media and derided by politicians looking for quick-fix solutions to crime and

other social ills. While youth have always had to bear the misplaced fear and distrust of adults, how youth are

represented, talked about, and treated has changed dramatically in the last two decades. 

For complete story, click here.

State suspends license from central Oregon school for troubled teens--November 4th, 2009--State officials have

told parents to remove their children from a central Oregon boarding school after investigators found students

were subject to inappropriate sexual role-play, public humiliation and physical deprivation.

Following a seven-month investigation, the Oregon Department of Human Services has temporarily suspended Mount

Bachelor Academy's license. Investigators found nine substantiated allegations of child abuse and neglect as

well as numerous licensing violations.  For complete story, click here.  For more on this story, click here  and here.

Teen’s parents settle abuse case--October 26th, 2009--GONZALES — The parents of a Prairieville teenager who

allege he suffered abuse and related temporary kidney failure at a Louisiana National Guard Youth Challenge

facility last year have reached a $95,000 out-of-court settlement with the state of Louisiana, the teen’s attorney

said.  For complete story, click here.

autopsy findings in a summer camp death may lead to criminal charges for staff members.

[HEAL Note:  This occurred at an Aspen Education Group program called SageWalk.] 

For complete story, click here.  For more on this story, click here.

fat by their parents - even if the comments are well- intentioned - suffer headaches, feel stress or get depressed

more than those who are not, a study has found.  For complete story, click here.

http://progressillinois.com/node/7229

I'm OK, but you're not.--September 16th, 2009--So you have a troubled or problem teen. Let me guess, they

come home from school and virtually lock themselves away in their bedroom. If they do come and join the family,

they are plugged into their MP3 player or PSP. You actually have to demand putting the electronics away when at the

dinner table; that is if they even join you for dinner. It’s a pretty common problem; I’d venture to say across

Western society.  Let’s think back – when I was a teen, I’d plug into the cassette player with earphones on (I’m

old enough that CD’s were not around). Once I was driving, I’d not even come home – I’d go driving. I was usually

busy enough after school with work and theatre that there were some weeks I’d barely see my parents. Was I a

problem or troubled child? My parents probably thought so, but guess who I thought had the problem?  It’s not

any different today. Oh, the script may have changed some, the technology and access to information has

drastically changed, but how we communicate (or lack of communication) remains the same. I’m curious though,

have you ever asked your teen why they stay away from the family so much? Some of this is natural child

development for certain, but choosing to stay home to study instead of joining the family for a ‘night out bowling’

is something else.  Yes, our teen can be defiant; sometimes it’s what they do best. But every now and then, we

must remember to turn that magnifying glass away from them and onto ourselves. What are we doing to drive

wedges into that gap? If we don’t know then we need to ask. So many teens feel they cannot talk to their parents,

when in reality that is what everyone, both teens and parents, really want!  For complete story, click here.

Real life horrors revealed in Boot Camp--September 5th, 2009--The most disturbing aspect of Christian Duguay's

Boot Camp is the fact that places such as that depicted actually exist. Places that promise rehabilitation for

troubled youths that are nothing more than entities of torture that do more damage than good. 

For complete story, click here.