By Josh Kovner
The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. — With criticism mounting each day a transgender girl stays in adult prison with no criminal charges, advocates and officials with the Department of Children and Families are starting to talk privately about getting the 16-year-old out of prison and crafting a suitable treatment program.
The youth has been at the York Correctional Institute for woman in Niantic since April 8. DCF invoked a rarely used law permitting the transfer of a juvenile to adult prison if the department proves it can’t care for the youth anywhere in the juvenile system – an assertion hotly contested by advocates in this case.
A state judge endorsed the request. As the story continues to touch nerves nationally, the youth’s lawyers are appealing the transfer and incarceration in federal court on constitutional grounds. DCF Commissioner Joette Katz has publicly defended the move, citing the youth’s history of assaults in residential centers.
But there may be a break in the impasse.
State Child Advocate Sarah Eagan said Thursday morning that there have been preliminary discussions about removing the youth from prison and fashioning treatment in an age-appropriate setting.
“There’s some positive conversation taking place,’' Eagan said. “I think folks on all sides are looking for a way to move forward in a way that supports this youth and addresses any safety concerns.”
In her response, Katz both reaffirmed the department’s recent action, and appeared to leave the door open to accomplish what Eagan described. Katz said her staff was working to provide effective treatment to the youth in prison while pursuing other options.
“As I have previously stated publicly, we are working with the Department of Correction to make sure our teen is seen by a DCF social worker three times a week and that the appropriate services are being provided,” Katz said in a written statement.
“During each placement, we work collaboratively with the youth, their caretakers, as well as our community partners, to develop a case plan based on individual strengths and identified needs that include behavioral health, medical, educational and other interventions,’' she said. “We have been, and will continue to be, diligent in our efforts to closely monitor this placement.”
Pressed on whether it is accurate to say that talks had privately begun to fashion treatment for the youth outside of an adult prison, Katz said: “The court order says for her to be evaluated at six months but we do not necessarily have to wait that long. Depending on her progress and behaviors, movement to a less restrictive setting could occur earlier. Our assessment of her needs has already begun.”
The youth committed a serious assault on a staff member in a Massachusetts facility on Jan. 27 after another staff member attempted to restrain her from walking off campus. The injured staff member was bitten, punched and kicked multiple times, according to an incident report obtained by The Courant.
One of the staff members was fired after an internal investigation of the restraint attempt, said Assistant Public Defender James Connolly, one of the youth’s lawyers. The youth was arrested, but the criminal charge was not pursued by prosecutors in Massachusetts.
The youth was under DCF care as a young child, and then returned to the agency’s custody about five years ago after living with relatives. She suffered extreme physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of relatives and others --- an experience her lawyers and advocates have described as horrific.
DCF has released some of her behavioral history, indicating she stabbed a female with a fork and committed 10 assaults in a concentrated period of time.
Lawyers and advocates said her record also reveals periods of a year or more where she wasn’t assaultive and was making progress in therapy.
Eagan, who would not talk in great detail about the youth’s treatment history because it is confidential, said that the documentation shows generally that “she has taken steps forward and steps backward.’'
“A lot of folks at DCF have worked hard for her,’' said Eagan, whose office is charged with monitoring and investigating the state’s child-protection and juvenile system. “A review of the record by my office indicates (DCF workers) understood that the aggression and assaultive behavior were arising from the profound trauma this youth had experienced in her life.”
“That history is extensive and extreme, and she presents as volatile and very challenging – but DCF deals with other traumatized youth,’' said Eagan. “They are her parent. She’s 16. They have to keep helping her.’'
Katz acknowledged that “timely therapeutic services work towards reducing the impact of these experiences” in the youth’s life.
“However, when an individual does not have the capability or capacity to benefit from the interventions provided, decisions - at times very difficult ones - must be made on their behalf to place them into an appropriate setting for both the safety of themselves and others,’' said Katz.
“This youth has received numerous interventions in the … settings in which she has resided up until this point,’' Katz said. “We remain committed to assessing and understanding this youth’s trauma history and implementing a provision of services leading towards her recovery which includes the opportunity to be placed into a less restrictive setting.”
The transgender girl was committed to DCF’s juvenile-justice division as a delinquent for the first time in November 2013 for an assault of a staff member at the Bridgeport detention center and for an escape. The 18-month juvenile-justice commitment will last for about another 13 months. Lawyer Aaron Romano has asked a federal judge to reverse the transfer, but he and Connolly have said that it is conceivable that the youth could spend the rest of the commitment, or longer, in an adult prison.
The youth, in an affidavit filed in federal court on April 12, said she is spending 22-23 hours a day in a cell at the York prison and is not receiving schooling.
Assistant child advocates on Eagan’s staff have been to the prison and have interviewed the youth and Department of Correction officials.
“I do think the DOC is working as hard they can to put together as developmentally appropriate plan as they can,’' Eagan said. “However, the fact remains that an adult prison is not a treatment facility and this child, above all else, needs intense treatment.’'
The youth requires “a carefully constructed, individualized, trauma-informed treatment plan that wraps services around her, and addresses safety concerns,” Eagan said.