the U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the violent conditions and
substandard care at two Maryland juvenile detention centers are substantially
violating the constitutional civil rights of the youths confined there.
The results of the department’s 20-month investigation were made public
yesterday in a 51-page letter, which details brutal conditions inside the
Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County and Cheltenham Youth Facility
in Prince George’s County.
The federal investigation concluded that the state of Maryland is failing
in virtually every aspect of its mission to protect, control, educate and
counsel the youths at the two centers.
“In particular,” the letter stated, “we find that children confined at
Cheltenham and Hickey suffer harm or the risk of harm from constitutional
deficiencies in the facilities’ confinement practices, suicide prevention
measures, mental health and medical care services, and fire safety. In
addition, the facilities fail to provide required education services.”
The letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta, was
sent to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who during his 2002 election campaign
sharply criticized the state’s juvenile justice system, then faced frequent
criticism since taking office that he hasn’t acted swiftly or decisively to
remedy the problems.
Heather Ford, director of the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition,
applauded the report’s tough conclusions, saying, “This is as clear a signal
as any that the state should close Cheltenham and Hickey.
“The excuses have got to come to an end, and the governor has to act now.”
Kenneth C. Montague Jr., Ehrlich’s juvenile services secretary, said he was
not surprised by the report’s findings because “it was verifying what I knew.
… There are serious problems at all these facilities.”
The same problems, and many of the same instances of violence mentioned in
Acosta’s letter, have been previously reported either in newspaper accounts or
in thick reports issued by Maryland’s Office of the Independent Juvenile
Justice Monitor, the state’s official watchdog for its juvenile centers.
The monitor’s most recent quarterly report, issued late last month,
concluded that most of the problems outlined in the past had yet to be
adequately addressed. It said that assaults had continued at Hickey at the
rate of 2.5 a day through the last quarter of 2003. Cheltenham, the report
concluded, “continues to experience excessive violence,” despite reform
efforts that reduced the facility’s population to 100.
The crucial difference with the Justice Department’s critique is that it
alleges that the problems are severe enough to be considered violations of
“the constitutional rights of institutionalized juveniles.”
Such a conclusion comes with the implicit threat of further legal action if
the state fails to fix the problems. But in noting this possibility, the
Justice Department’s letter struck a hopeful rather than threatening tone.
“State officials and facility staff reacted positively and constructively
to the observations and recommendations for improvements,” the letter stated.
“The collaborative approach the parties have taken thus far has been
productive.”
Montague echoed that tone yesterday, saying, “We have been working
cooperatively with [the Department of Justice]. Our intent is to go over with
them not only the findings but things we have accomplished since last June. We
are working hard on improvements and downsizing the population. Things are not
perfect, but better than before.”
Youths at the facilities, as well as their parents, wouldn’t necessarily
agree, judging from recent interviews.
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Nor would juvenile justice advocates, who say dangerous conditions have
improved little, if at all, in recent months. The state is now running both
facilities, although up until March 31 the Hickey School had been managed for
the past 11 years by a private contractor, Youth Service International, which
since 1999 has been a subsidiary of Correctional Services Corporation, based
in Florida.
Federal investigators haven’t actually visited either Hickey or Cheltenham
since last June 12, according to the Justice Department’s letter, although
violent incidents that have occurred since then were noted in the report.
“The evidence unearthed in our probe indicates a deeply disturbing degree
of physical abuse of youth by staff at both Cheltenham and Hickey,” the letter
stated. “In addition, our investigation revealed that individuals with felony
convictions and histories of excessive force against juveniles may, at times,
be hired as staff members at these facilities.”
The investigation also faulted poor training for staff and said that staff
members often failed to report serious incidents.
“We are likewise very troubled by the fact that, at Hickey, youth with
identified mental illness are placed on the same units with youth who have
poor impulse control and other behavioral disorders,” the report said.
It also faulted poor security in Hickey’s dormitories, saying that “youth
are not sufficiently supervised, allowing them to tamper with locking
mechanisms on youth room doors, disable the locks, and enter other youth rooms
to assault one another.”
The report then detailed an incident in which two students kept entering
each other’s rooms during an escalating feud, unknown to staff members. One
urinated in the bed of the other, who retaliated by defecating in the bed of
the first youth, who in turn went back to the second youth’s room to assault
him.
For now, at least, any threat of a federal lawsuit would appear to be
remote. The letter notes that further legal action could be possible as soon
as May 28, but it says that would happen only “in the unexpected event that
the parties are unable to reach a resolution regarding our concerns.”
The federal investigation began Aug. 30, 2002, during the administration of
Gov. Parris N. Glendening.
Sun staff writer Jamie Stiehm contributed to this article.