GUEST EDITORIAL: Youth prisons need neutral monitor

Editorials

November 21, 2009

Anonymous The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sat Nov 21, 2009, 02:59 AM EST

The U.S. Justice Department probably will appoint a monitor to track New York’s progress in correcting serious problems — including the use of excessive force against kids — in the state’s juvenile prison system.

But the head of the state Office of Children and Family Services, which runs the juvenile prisons, said one of three consultants who’ve been working with OCFS to come up with reforms could be tapped as the monitor.

“It might be a more friendly type of monitor,” said Gladys Carrion, OCFS commissioner, at a Sept. 30 meeting of an advisory panel on juvenile justice. She added: “It looks like we might have some influence on who becomes the monitor.”

That would not be in the best interest of the children in state custody. Any monitor must be, above all, neutral. The monitor should not be in a position in which he or she might be concerned with offending the agency, which could be a source of lucrative contracts in the future.

Carrion said the state is not going to rebut or challenge any of the Justice Department’s findings from its investigation of four upstate youth prisons, including two outside Ithaca.

Federal investigators found that guards at the facilities were quick to use a high degree of force against the young inmates that was grossly disproportionate to any infractions the kids had made. Anything from sneaking an extra cookie to starting a fight to refusing to stop laughing resulted in youngsters being forced to the floor face-down and restrained with handcuffs. This one-size-fits-all approach to control led to an alarming number of serious injuries to the kids, including concussions, broken teeth and spinal fractures.

The Justice Department said OCFS failed to properly investigate these and other abuses and failed to take disciplinary action against abusive guards. Young inmates, many of whom suffered from mental problems, also received substandard mental health care. As many as half the kids at some of the prisons have some kind of mental illness.

OCFS is negotiating with the Justice Department on how it plans to correct these problems. A settlement is expected to be reached by the end of the year.

A monitor, appointed by the Justice Department but probably paid by the state, likely will make sure the state complies with the terms of the settlement.

So who will that be? A “friendly” face, as Carrion suggested might be possible? Or someone with no interest in pleasing the system being monitored?

The Justice Department has, in the past, appointed monitors who had worked for the agency being investigated, but that has been rare. There isn’t a blanket prohibition of the practice.

Carrion said the Justice Department is going to hold New York to a very high standard for change because of all the publicity over the abuses.

Appointing a “friendly” monitor, however, could guarantee that too much of what is wrong with the juvenile prison system will remain the same.

— The Post-Standard of Syracuse

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