Federal investigators found that the state agency excessively used pepper spray on children, employed dangerous restraint techniques and kept children isolated for days or weeks on end.
The U.S. Department of Justice found unconstitutional conditions at all five of Texas' juvenile detention facilities, where children were exposed to excessive force, sexual abuse, and, in the case of disabled children, discrimination that kept them in custody longer or sent them to adult prisons.
Children who have been arrested for a crime and found to have engaged in "delinquent" conduct are sentenced to TJJD for rehabilitation. According to the DOJ, there were about 700 youth offenders ages 10 to 19 in the department's custody as of July 2024, around 80 percent of whom were Black or Latino. In 2021, the TJJD reported that around 65 percent of children in its custody had "significant" mental health issues.
"Children in TJJD's secure facilities are exposed to conditions that cause serious and lasting physical, mental, and emotional harm. At the same time, they are denied treatment and services they need to cope with their environment, earn release, return to their communities and become productive citizens," the report said. "This harmful environment undermines any rehabilitative purpose in their commitment.
"At TJJD, we are continually working to improve our operations and services to the youth in our care and the communities of Texas we protect," the agency said. "We have a zero-tolerance policy toward abuse and neglect and have always fully rejected any abusive behaviors at our campuses." In 2007, the Justice Department found that the agency failed to keep children safe from violence in the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg. Four years later, after reports of sexual abuse and operational problems across the system, the state Legislature combined the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission to create the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
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