Five facilities operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department have violated the constitutional, civil, and disability rights of children, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The report, released Thursday, accused staff of using violence and pepper spray to discipline children when other alternatives were available. It takes a particularly harsh look at the lack of mental health treatment for a large part of the juvenile population.
"Children are committed to TJJD facilities to receive treatment and rehabilitation so that they may return to their communities as law-abiding, productive citizens," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a written statement. "Our investigation showed that, far from achieving those objectives, TJJD engaged in a pattern of abuse, deprivation of essential services and disability-related discrimination that seriously harms children and undermines their rehabilitation."
Evins Regional Juvenile Center, Gainesville State School, Giddings State School, McClennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility, and Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex were among the facilities named in the report.
"States that receive federal funds to help educate children with disabilities are required to use those funds appropriately for the benefit of these children," U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs for the Eastern District of Texas said in a written statement. "Systematically failing to evaluate children suspected of having disabilities inevitably deprives these children of the special education these funds were meant to provide."
The Texas Juvenile Justice Department said it would have a response Thursday afternoon.
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