* AP…
The ACLU accuses a juvenile detention facility in southern Illinois of improperly and unnecessarily seeking prosecutions of several dozen detainees.
The civil liberties group made the allegation about the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg in a filing in an ongoing federal lawsuit in Chicago. It blames center staff disgruntled about court-approved limits on how long juveniles can spend in solitary confinement.
* Press release…
The John Howard Association (JHA) is deeply troubled by reports of youth at Illinois Youth Center Harrisburg being prosecuted on new charges based on reckless, minor misconduct, such as pushing, shoving or grabbing that results in no injury or only superficial injuries, behavior that up until recently, would be handled internally by facility staff through the use of the facilities’ disciplinary system.
Over 40 charges have been brought against youth in custody at IYC Harrisburg in a 14-month period, January 2016 through March of 2017. These charges were filed based on staff members who work at IYC Harrisburg individually going to local law enforcement and bringing formal complaints as victims and complaining witnesses. Illustrative of this disturbing trend, is the case of a young man who was charged and convicted for spitting on a staff person at IYC Harrisburg and received a sentence of six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). This kind of excessive punishment is ruinous for young lives. It also defies basic notions of proportionality, fair treatment, justice and DJJ’s stated mission and goal of rehabilitating youth in its custody.
If staff at Harrisburg feel unsafe and that the facility is dysfunctional such that they feel they must involve outside law enforcement and prosecutors, these are serious issues and worthy of attention. However, these issues should be addressed by DJJ, not the Saline County courts.
Youth lives must not be sacrificed to political gamesmanship and staff concerns must be addressed. Safety and security of staff and youth inside the facility is paramount, and can be achieved short of draconian punishments and responses. DJJ must find a way to achieve this in a fair, humane, and just way.
More info from the JHA is here.
* The Southern…
ACLU Director of Communications and Public Policy Ed Yohnka said furthermore “these events which should be prosecuted as internal disciplinary matters are being handled in courts with adult charges attached.”
The lawsuit said this is a “deliberate and concerted attack” upon the DJJ disciplinary structure put in place by a 2012 Consent Decree and remedial plan.
As part of that agreement with DJJ, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly approved an end to lengthy, isolated confinement as part of punishment.
When the threat of solitary confinement was removed, the lawsuit alleges that certain DJJ staff at IYC Harrisburg created their own, alternative “correctional” system, engineering a steady stream of youth prosecutions for “staff assaults.”
* WSIL TV…
ACLU lawyer Lindsay Miller calls Saline County State’s Attorney Jason Clark “out of control” for bringing the charges, and claims IYC staff manipulated him into filing the charges.
Illinois Juvenile Justice spokesman Mike Theodore says the department takes all reports of assaults seriously and carefully considers whether to use internal discipline or refer the incident to a prosecutor.
He also says staff can seek prosecution as “private citizens”. […]
ACLU Lawyer Camille Bennett says that center staff are taking the juvenile’s futures into their own hands
“The staff who were going over to the Saline County state’s attorney and the Saline County state’s attorney are saying we don’t think these kids have a chance, so we’re not going to give them a chance,” she said in a phone call with News 3.
The legal filing is here (scroll to the bottom of the page).
- independent - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 9:57 am:
If we actually had a well functioning executive branch, the Gov would be addressing these type of important issues, not playing political games based on some sort of unwise and untested philosophical position.
- anon2 - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 9:59 am:
When the Juvenile Division was separated from DOC, that move was supposed to ensure that juveniles were treated differently than adult detainees.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:00 am:
Kinda agree with the staff here. You can’t let inmates, even if they are minors, spit on and shove staff with impunity.
- Newbie chic - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:01 am:
Prisoners from juveniles to adults are the forgotten people. They are treated inhuman and live in deplorable conditions. Why does no one care?
- Morty - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:03 am:
Other articles I had read indicated that among these minor infractions were staff being punched in the face and stabbed by pencils.
Spitting in someone’s face is assault. One can argue that 6 years may be far too harsh in that case but the staff at the facilty are not in charge of sentencing. The person rightly brought a case of assault to a court of law and that court found the person guilty.
As to Ms Bennet- she seems to be engaging in her own gamesmenship- how does she know the motivations of the staff in pressing charges?
Staff members at correction facilities need to be accorded the full protection of the law as much as any other citizen
- Morty - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:06 am:
I had 2 comments here not uploaded for some reason-
Suffice to say I agree with anymous here, these staff members do not lose their protections under the law just because they work at a juvenile detention facility
- charles in charge - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:08 am:
==Kinda agree with the staff here. You can’t let inmates, even if they are minors, spit on and shove staff with impunity.==
Do you actually believe that a 6-year prison sentence is the only alternative to allowing youth to spit on guards with “impunity”? Or that that type of punishment even serves to make incarcerated youth less likely to engage in that behavior?
- Ajjacksson - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:08 am:
“spit on staff…without impunity.” But a six year jail sentence for that? For a juvenile who doesn’t have a fully developed brain and sense of maturity?
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:14 am:
=“spit on staff…without impunity.” But a six year jail sentence for that? For a juvenile who doesn’t have a fully developed brain and sense of maturity?=
Six years is too much. But people don’t lose their right to complain to law enforcement when they suffer an assault just because they work for DJJ.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:16 am:
===Six years is too much. But===
Lose the “But” and I’d agree.
- Morty - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:18 am:
One of the comments loaded after a lag- sorry for the double post
- Roman - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:27 am:
There might be a real interesting legal question here.
Assume, as the stories indicate, rank-and-file staffers are ignoring DJJ’s internal disciplinary process and taking their cases straight to the Saline County State’s Attorney — essentially going around their bosses and ignoring the process agreed to in the consent decree. If that’s the case, and the ACLU can’t point to wink-and-nod collusion between supervisors and front line staff, I’m not sure the ACLU has much of a case.
Kennelly isn’t shy about flexing his judicial power, so he won’t hesitate to toss around contempt citations. But I don’t think he can order a state prosecutor to ignore the law.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:28 am:
You can’ t make an informed judgement on sentence without knowing the offender’s background.
- Cassandra - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:33 am:
First, is it clear that this is the least restrictive setting for these detainees.
But if violence by anyone is routine in a locked facility, any locked facility, heavy outside scrutiny is needed. Is this facility accredited? How?
- Free Set of Steak Knives - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:38 am:
Has the Executive Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority weighed in?
- Amalia - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:41 am:
fewer and fewer juvenile facilities in Illinois means that these are probably some difficult youths as there is less space to house those who need to be kept from the public. you truly cannot make a judgment about the situation without looking at the case at hand and the background of the offender. like in every case. the justice system is about individual assessment.
- Downstate Illinois - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:43 am:
Under Quinn the agency refused to refer assaults to the state’s attorney. Staff started filing police reports on their own in 2012 with help from the union. That was under a different governor and a different state’s attorney. If the John Howard Association and the ACLU has their way prisoners wouldn’t be punished administratively or criminally.
- Cassandra - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:45 am:
If violence against staff by inmates is routine, shouldn’t that be the subject of labor-management negotiations and addiitonal training. And if the facility is accredited, the accrediting agency should be notified so they can do an interim review. Other similar institutions across the country must have faced these kinds of problems.
What is the standard of care in these situations.
- Morty - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:51 am:
Six years is way too harsh.
I totally grant that.
But again I’d point out that the staff members don’t pass sentences. That’s on the judge.
As anonymous (pick a call sign) points out it doesn’t take the offenders other violations into account.
Cards on the table, I’ve worked my whole adult life with emotionally disturbed youth.
I’ve gotten concussions, being punched, cut with razors, hit with books, caught elbows to the face and yes, have been spit on so many times I couldn’t possibly put a number on it.
In the vast majority of those incidents I did not press charges or even have a police contact.
I believe in 22 years I’ve pressed charged 2 times and only for really egregious incidents.
The reasons I haven’t usually were situational, i.e. the kid was in a fight a threw a punch and didn’t intend to hit me, things like that.
But it’s also very important that, as a staff member, I have the option to press charges if I feel it is neccessary.
Just like anyone else.
It’s also important that the juvenile knows charges can be pressed on them if they commit a crime.
Just like anyone else.
And so there’s no misunderstanding- I’m not bitter or miserable in my job. It’s tough but very rewarding work and I’ve seen dozens of kids really turn their lives around and become outstanding young people.
I’ve also seen (thankfully only a few) end up in jail for the rest of their lives for murder or dead from overdoses.
Anyway, my 2 cents
- charles in charge - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 11:09 am:
==you truly cannot make a judgment about the situation without looking at the case at hand and the background of the offender. like in every case. the justice system is about individual assessment.==
I can and will make a judgment that, whatever the background of the offender, a 6-year sentence for spitting is disproportionately harsh.
- Das Opinionator - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 11:12 am:
The more kids get caught up in the assault charge manufacturing process, the more of them will end up entering the adult correctional system or remaining in DJJ long term. The more people in there, the more taxpayer money going to corrections staff, which strengthens their union’s political power. They have every reason to lie about inmate misconduct.
- Swift - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 11:15 am:
I recall the AFSCME ads about the important work state employees perform, not sure why this practice wasn’t included in the ads. Ruining a kids life in retaliation for a court ruling forbidding deplorable treatment of juvenile offenders seems like something AFSCME would crow about.
- crazybleedingheart - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 12:06 pm:
6 years — in an adult prison — and a permanent felony record, for spitting.
Hey, are these four guys still out on bond?
http://abc7chicago.com/news/4-guards-at-st-charles-juvenile-facility-accused-of-encouraging-detainees-to-attack-each-other/1629539/
- crazybleedingheart - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 12:08 pm:
my comment did not post.
- crazybleedingheart - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 12:18 pm:
Key passages:
==guards, led by Klimek, encouraged certain juvenile residents to physically attack other juvenile residents, facilitated the attacks and stood idly by during the attacks. The offenses took place in January 2016 at the facility.==
==Klimek was charged with 53 counts of official misconduct, 18 counts of aggravated battery, three counts of unlawful restraint, one count of mob action and one count of theft. He was taken into custody Nov. 22 and posted $7,500 bond and released the next day.==
==If convicted of the most serious offense, each of the defendants faces a sentence of probation or between two and five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.==
- Amalia - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 12:31 pm:
http://thesouthern.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/iyc-harrisburg-inmate-sentenced-to-six-years-in-state-prison/article_cefe0094-97e0-5a2e-aca0-3ee6542be807.html
this appears to be the 6 years for spitting sentence. note that the individual in question was 18 at the time. in a juvenile facility.
if you google you might find another downstate spitting case in the last 7 years where the defendant, an inmate, got 10 years for that.
- Claude Peppers - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 5:00 pm:
The Illinois Department of Corrections consistently abrogates court orders, ignores audit findings to name a few. Until the justice department takes over the Illinois Department of Corrections this will not stop.
- Anon - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 6:42 pm:
IDOC doesn’t run it, juvenile justice does.
I just left DJJ and can say there is no internal discipline prodcedure thanks to John Howard and the ACLU. Staff isn’t doing this to punish the youth, they are doing it because it’s the only recourse staff has available to them.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 7:17 pm:
If it were not for John Howard and others there would be no accountability. The incarceration rate is ludicrous and needs reform all the way around. There are good and bad CO’s and some antagonize inmates and are cruel for fun. I think there should be cameras worn on them and the Police. That would be the best solution for all concerned.