The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Tex. — An ombudsman for the Texas Youth Commission recommended closing a North Texas youth prison because of conditions including dangerous buildings, meager programming and understaffing.
Will Harrell’s report described the Victory Field Correctional Academy in Vernon as the “the least adequate” of any he’d visited since he took the job in May.
“If I were king, I’d shut it down today,” Harrell said after testifying in front of the House Corrections Committee on Wednesday. “It’s an incredibly violent campus. ... There’s just this sense of fear and intimidation.”
Harrell told committee members that the Vernon facility was the TYC prison most similar to the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in West Texas. The agency closed that lockup this month and fired its private operator after Harrell reported terrible conditions there.
The Victory Field report was part of a daylong hearing covering reforms and continuing problems at the Youth Commission, which was placed in state conservatorship this spring after a sex abuse scandal and subsequent cover-up.
Harrell’s report said buildings at the state-run Vernon facility are “structurally suffering, dangerous and unclean, staff morale is low, youth are idle and agitated, programming is meager ... and there is a serious understaffing and training issue.”
Dimitria Pope, the Youth Commission’s acting executive director, said she had not seen a copy of Harrell’s report, which was distributed to committee members before Wednesday’s meeting. But she said she wasn’t in total agreement with Harrell’s assessment of Victory Field.
“I personally have gone to Victory Field myself and had some concerns about the physical structure,” Pope said. “I’m not saying it’s an ideal place ... but there’s not feces, there’s not problems with plumbing that I saw (at Coke County).”
Pope said any problems will be addressed after the facility is inspected next week.
Harrell’s report described “huge blind spots” in the security camera system, including an area that inmates said they had used for sexual acts, fights and tattooing.
Other problems were a lack of access from the facility’s phones to the TYC hot line for students to report abuse, and youth complaints of staff retaliation when they file grievances.
State Rep. Drew Darby, a San Angelo Republican who represents Coke County, said the problems at Victory Field look similar to those at the facility that was recently closed.
“If those conditions exist, this facility certainly needs to be looked at and held to the same standards that they used in Coke County,” he said.
Pope said there could be more problems uncovered at the Youth Commission as officials work to overhaul the agency.
“I can’t say we’ve reached the core of all the issues,” she said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press