(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/15/2024) Poorly managed and staffed juvenile detention facilities (JDFs) are inflicting traumatic experiences on their residents, according to testimony taken Tuesday in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Health and Human Services.
Swavil Williams, a former Wayne County JDF resident, said living conditions were infested with mold and there were times he could only get one shower a month. He said he had to request maintenance after every bowel movement in his toilet and often endured the smell of feces overnight while we waited. Sometimes, when the morning came, he would fix it himself by using a glove and removing the feces manually.
He said the most vulgar part of his experience was witnessing brutal, life-threatening fights. In one instance, 13 residents beat one resident in and out of consciousness for 20 minutes. He also said he witnessed two residents get sexually assaulted.
Through tears, Williams said he still has nightmares about when he was a victim of one of the fights, and he was handcuffed, tased, kicked and punched, all to be told there was nothing the facility could do by the compliance manager.
A common thread through these experiences was that “the staff sat there and did nothing,” he said.
“I’ve been scarred ever since,” he said.
Demetrius Howard echoed the same experiences during his five months in JDF.
“I’m sorry, I’m very scared,” he said while testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Health and Human Services. “Can my mom talk now?”
Tanisha Jackson, Howard’s mother, said phone calls were limited to less than five minutes at a time and visits to her 13-year-old son lasted 30 minutes once a week.
“If I couldn’t make it, I would send my mom to visit him because I needed someone to lay eyes on my son and make sure he was still living,” Jackson said. She was told that residents who aren’t visited get treated worse.
Her son was attacked by a staff member and, despite filing a grievance and calling CPS, the caseworker said he had bruises but that the bump on his head had gone down, and when he saw a nurse, his mother was never notified or updated despite being a minor.
“The only thing that JDF has been successful at is separating the kids from their families. They’re keeping them locked in,” Jackson said.
Lardell Spratt, a licensed social service technician, master’s level life coach and former troubled youth told the committee he began work at the Spectrum Juvenile Justice Services (SJJS) to become the mentor he wished he had during his youth. However, he observed that the staff had an “us against them” attitude toward the residents, starting with the director and trickling down to most staff.
Spratt said he was frowned upon for not submitting multiple disciplinary write-ups and was called into meetings with supervisors because of it.
“Most staff enjoyed agonizing the youth, and as soon as the youth reacted out of uncontrolled emotional impulse, the staff would call security to physically restrain the youth, then quickly submit a referral to the mental health department for ‘evaluation/medication.’ There was an unwritten push to get the juveniles placed on psychotropic medications,” he said.
Spratt said he witnessed security staff take pleasure in hyperextending an arm.
Steven Johnson, another youth worker, said he believed his job was to correct, rehabilitate and provide an example for what living past your mistakes really means, and he was told in his initial interview that “these are not those types of kids.”
Staff was overworked, suffered from lack of sleep, not seeing their own families, low pay and fear of losing their jobs if they didn’t comply, and those individuals were expected to be at their best and not lose their temper.
Johnson said staff members would sometimes bribe residents with candy, cell phones and outside food.
Johnson said high doses of medication were distributed throughout the facility.
“I’m not a doctor, but I find it hard to believe that so many residents in the facility were required to be on medication,” Johnson said.
Johnson said residents and facilities were prepared for state visits and would fall back into disarray after the inspection. He implored members to suggest spontaneous visits to see what the conditions are like day-to-day.
Gregory Skipper, director of Berrien County Juvenile Center said he was very troubled by the testimonies of Williams and Howard and their parents.
“I want these young men to know that I empathize with their plights, and you can get past this,” he said. “I thought the young man in the blue was here to tell us what a success story he was and how well things were going and then I heard his testimony. Again, I’m very troubled.”
Skipper said in Berrien County, education standards in the juvenile center set residents up to earn a high school diploma, and staff connect residents with counseling and therapy, focus groups, life skills and positive role models.
Skipper said the residents need every minute of their day to be occupied so they don’t have time to fight or get into other trouble. At his facility, which currently houses 15 residents, when they are not in school they are at recreation in the dining hall, in a focus group or a therapeutic environment with master’s level therapists that are supervised by an individual who is experienced with young people.
Skipper said visits take place on Sundays and they can be flexible throughout the week as well, and phone calls are not a one-size-fits-all in terms of the resident’s needs.
“You cannot be in this line of work if you do not love human beings. What I’ve heard earlier indicates that we have people who do not love human beings,” he said.
Skipper said he believes Howard’s detention was not necessary in his opinion and may have done more harm than good.
Subcommittee Chair Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) said she invited more detention center directors to testify, but they declined, which she said tells her that more needs to be done to get juvenile justice right.
