Daniels: Reports Of Juvenile Prison Abuse
Feds Investigate Conditions At Indianapolis Facility
POSTED: 4:08 pm EDT May 20, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS -- The governor on Thursday downplayed a scathing federal report calling on Indiana to address widespread abuses within its juvenile correction facilities.
A Jan. 29 letter and report from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez to Gov. Mitch Daniels details troublesINDIANAPOLIS within the former Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility, including a (Mentally Ill Inmate left Dirty and Pulling Out Her Hair) and (Male Guards Having Sex With and Performing Strip Searches on Young Female Inmates),
6News' Joanna Massee reported.
The letter follows a civil rights investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2008 that documented( Inadequate Abuse Investigations), ( Excessive use of Force and Isolation, )inadequate mental health care and inadequate special education services. The investigation into allegations of abuse began in 2004.
Daniels initially declined to comment on the report, but when asked about the issue at a jobs announcement on Thursday, he told Massee the report was "hopelessly out of date."
" The problems there (the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility) -- which were very severe and obviously needed attention -- are many years old," Daniels said. "They're doing their job and tidying up what is really a six- or eight-year-old inquiry."
When the report was originally released, Daniels volunteered to make improvements at all the facilities and to provide reports resulting from a partnership with the Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force, an agency charged with monitoring the expected improvements.
A statement from the Indiana Department of Correction called it "a much different facility than its predecessor in Indianapolis," but a former employee told 6News that conditions for inmates worsened after the move.
("I do not think any child inside Madison Juvenile is safe," the former employee, who did not want to be identified, told Massee.")
6News was not allowed inside the Madison facility.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/23623424/detail.
htm )
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Strip Search Unreasonable: Byrd v. Maricopa Co. Sheriff's Dept
Case Name: Byrd v. Maricopa Co. Sheriff's Dept. , District: 9 Cir , Case #: 07-16640
Opinion Date: 1/5/2011 , DAR #: 300
Case Holding:
The pat down of a male inmate's genitals by a female officer where there was no showing of the unavailability of a male officer to do the search or with no exigent circumstances violated the Fourth Amendment. Jail officials ordered a search of an entire housing unit of inmates because they suspected contraband was being hidden. The inmates were ordered to remove all clothing except for underwear. A female cadet searched petitioner. The search included moving and applying pressure to appellant's genitals and buttocks. Petitioner filed a civil rights action complaining, inter alia, that the search violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. The factors that bear on a determination of reasonableness include: the scope of the intrusion, the place and manner in which it is conducted, and the justification for its initiation. (Bell v. Wolfish (1979) 441 U.S. 520.) The majority held the search was unreasonable. The court noted strip searches of inmates by officers of the opposite sex are frowned upon, except under exigent circumstances because they are extraordinarily intrusive. Here there was no emergency. Approximately 25 to 30 cadets and 10 to 15 officers were present. Only the cadets conducted the searches and someone else could have conducted it. Also, its scope was very intrusive. Thus, despite a valid justification for the search, and the fact it was conducted in a room with many others present, under the circumstances, it was unreasonable.
Opinion Date: 1/5/2011 , DAR #: 300
Case Holding:
The pat down of a male inmate's genitals by a female officer where there was no showing of the unavailability of a male officer to do the search or with no exigent circumstances violated the Fourth Amendment. Jail officials ordered a search of an entire housing unit of inmates because they suspected contraband was being hidden. The inmates were ordered to remove all clothing except for underwear. A female cadet searched petitioner. The search included moving and applying pressure to appellant's genitals and buttocks. Petitioner filed a civil rights action complaining, inter alia, that the search violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. The factors that bear on a determination of reasonableness include: the scope of the intrusion, the place and manner in which it is conducted, and the justification for its initiation. (Bell v. Wolfish (1979) 441 U.S. 520.) The majority held the search was unreasonable. The court noted strip searches of inmates by officers of the opposite sex are frowned upon, except under exigent circumstances because they are extraordinarily intrusive. Here there was no emergency. Approximately 25 to 30 cadets and 10 to 15 officers were present. Only the cadets conducted the searches and someone else could have conducted it. Also, its scope was very intrusive. Thus, despite a valid justification for the search, and the fact it was conducted in a room with many others present, under the circumstances, it was unreasonable.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Inmate Says Doctor Sexually Molested Her
Subject: [PRUP] FL - 3rd jail inmate says doctor sexually molested her
3rd jail inmate says doctor sexually molested her
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- Another female jail inmate has filed suit against a Gainesville psychiatrist, alleging sexual molestation.
On Tuesday, a woman identified as "Jane Doe III" added her name to a lawsuit filed in Hernando in May.
The women allege that James Yelton Rossello sexually fondled and molested them while they were inmates in the Hernando County Jail.
In March, the Florida Surgeon General restricted Rossello from providing medical, mental health or psychiatric treatment to any female patients.
The Corrections Corporation of America is also named in the suit. It was contracted to run the jail for 22 years until the county took back control of it in August.
An attorney who represented Rossello in the Department of Health Case has said his client denies the conduct. No criminal charges have been filed.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/07/2255094/3rd-jail-inmate-says-doctor-sexually.html#ixzz1Oc1x77Va
3rd jail inmate says doctor sexually molested her
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- Another female jail inmate has filed suit against a Gainesville psychiatrist, alleging sexual molestation.
On Tuesday, a woman identified as "Jane Doe III" added her name to a lawsuit filed in Hernando in May.
The women allege that James Yelton Rossello sexually fondled and molested them while they were inmates in the Hernando County Jail.
In March, the Florida Surgeon General restricted Rossello from providing medical, mental health or psychiatric treatment to any female patients.
The Corrections Corporation of America is also named in the suit. It was contracted to run the jail for 22 years until the county took back control of it in August.
An attorney who represented Rossello in the Department of Health Case has said his client denies the conduct. No criminal charges have been filed.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/07/2255094/3rd-jail-inmate-says-doctor-sexually.html#ixzz1Oc1x77Va
Thursday, June 9, 2011
24-hour lockup: California Youth
"When you leave 24-hour lockup you feel like an alien, like you just came out of your mother's womb and don't know how to use your limbs."
-Joaquin Diazdeleon, formerly incarcerated in the Division of Juvenile Justice
Dear Hayes,
Over the last several months, members of Families for Books Not Bars have shared horror stories of violence and extreme isolation within California's youth prison system. Now, a state audit1 has confirmed what we've been hearing - young people are routinely locked in their cells for 23 or more hours per day. This is unacceptable.
In 2004, the court required that the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) stop isolating youth in their cells. The DJJ's "improvement" was to require that youth receive 3 hours out of their cells per day.
Yet, years later, they can't even follow their own, insufficient policies. We have documents showing hundreds of cases where youth were isolated in their cells for up to 23 and even 24 hours a day, for weeks at a time. In one case, a youth was let out of his cell for only one hour over a period of 10 days.
Solitary confinement amounts to torture. It is has been shown to cause deep, long-term psychological problems in adults2, and makes it even harder to reintegrate into society. This is even more true for youth and the DJJ knows this. In fact, in 2005, Joseph Maldonado3 took his own life within the walls of Stark youth prison after spending months in solitary confinement.
These abusive practices must end. Send an email to Matthew Cate, the head of the California prison system, demanding that he immediately require DJJ to allow all youth out of their cells for a minimum of 8 hours per day.
The DJJ is charged with educating and rehabilitating the young people in its care, not inflicting additional damage on them. Act now with Books Not Bars -- our youth and their families cannot wait!
Books not bars, schools not jails.
Sumayyah Waheed
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
1. "Young Prisoners Faced 24-Hour Confinement, Classes in Closets," Bay Citizen, 6/6/2011
http://www.baycitizen.org/youth/story/young-prisoners-faced-24-hour-classes/
-Joaquin Diazdeleon, formerly incarcerated in the Division of Juvenile Justice
Dear Hayes,
Over the last several months, members of Families for Books Not Bars have shared horror stories of violence and extreme isolation within California's youth prison system. Now, a state audit1 has confirmed what we've been hearing - young people are routinely locked in their cells for 23 or more hours per day. This is unacceptable.
In 2004, the court required that the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) stop isolating youth in their cells. The DJJ's "improvement" was to require that youth receive 3 hours out of their cells per day.
Yet, years later, they can't even follow their own, insufficient policies. We have documents showing hundreds of cases where youth were isolated in their cells for up to 23 and even 24 hours a day, for weeks at a time. In one case, a youth was let out of his cell for only one hour over a period of 10 days.
Solitary confinement amounts to torture. It is has been shown to cause deep, long-term psychological problems in adults2, and makes it even harder to reintegrate into society. This is even more true for youth and the DJJ knows this. In fact, in 2005, Joseph Maldonado3 took his own life within the walls of Stark youth prison after spending months in solitary confinement.
These abusive practices must end. Send an email to Matthew Cate, the head of the California prison system, demanding that he immediately require DJJ to allow all youth out of their cells for a minimum of 8 hours per day.
The DJJ is charged with educating and rehabilitating the young people in its care, not inflicting additional damage on them. Act now with Books Not Bars -- our youth and their families cannot wait!
Books not bars, schools not jails.
Sumayyah Waheed
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
1. "Young Prisoners Faced 24-Hour Confinement, Classes in Closets," Bay Citizen, 6/6/2011
http://www.baycitizen.org/youth/story/young-prisoners-faced-24-hour-classes/
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