Texas Juvenile Justice Department

On Thursday, May 10, 2012, the Austin American Statesman published an editorial titled "Calling in juvenile justice cavalry." Governor Rick Perry has called in Jay Kimbrough, a highly qualified and trusted man that the editorial jokes as being equivalent to the cavalry. His job is to bring safety and security to the agencies youth lock-ups, and they think he's the right man for the job. They say they need Kimbrough's services only temporarily for as long as it takes to make things right. Lawmakers are going to make changes regarding the troubles with the juvenile justice system when they meet early next year, but something has to be done now, and they believe (they need to believe) that Kimbrough will bring immediate results.

They thought that the issues that made them rethink how the state deals with youth offenders had been resolved after a series of scandals that were reported in 2007, but they were wrong. All sorts of awful things were happening in these facilities; sexual abuse of inmates, hiring of guards and supervisors with questionable records, and efforts within the agency to keep the abuse quiet were just some of the things going on. People in charge were fired, arrested, and forced to resign. Things were changing left and right. There were reforms that led to almost half of the state's youth lockups to be closed and brought about the state adopted community-based rehab programs. These reforms led to the merger which created the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

Few lockups were kept open for youths who had committed more serious crimes, but there were reports of a campus under the control of youth gang members, supervisors dressing more like gang members than state employees, the facilities not maintaining the legislatively mandated 12-to-1 offender-to-staff ratio, and supervisors not properly checking on bullying.

They're hoping that Kimbrough is the right man for the job of separating those who are more dangerous and should be better watched from those who just need a little push in the right direction, as well as insisting that staff members act more professionally.

This editorial is worth reading because it provides a solution to a serious problem that is going on in Texas right now that you might not have known about. I know I didn't, and I am now informed.