Grits for Breakfast reports on the blooming sex scandal at Texas' youth prisons. Hearings are underway and Grits has been live-blogging. From yesterday's update:

What does it say about the criminal justice system that, with all the sex offender hype going on last year during the campaign season, Texas' elite state police couldn't get an alleged pedophile running a youth prison indicted?

Grits provides these links to others following the story: Houston Chronicle, the Dallas News, the Brownsville Herald, KEYE-TV (with video of the Ranger's testimony), and the Washington Post. From the blogs, see Capitol Annex, Texas Politics, the Texas Observer blog, Kuff, Patricia Hart at BurkaBlog, and Rep. Peña's A Capitol Blog. though the best blog headline of the day goes to In the Pink Texas: "T Why C." Here's information about the new 24/7 TYC Abuse Hotline discussed at the hearing.

From the Campaign 4 Youth Justice Organization, a group dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating children under 18 in the adult criminal justice system:

The Virginia legislature recently passed a bill by Delegate Dave Marsden (D-Fairfax) that amends Virginia's "once an adult, always an adult" law so that it is applied more fairly to youth.

Previously, merely transferring a youth to adult court was enough to trigger the "once an adult, always an adult" law. This meant that youth transferred to the adult system were treated as an adult in all future proceedings, no matter how minor the charge, even if they were acquitted or had their case dismissed.

In the "you can't make this stuff up" department: A four year old Texas pre-kindergartner hugged his teacher and then rubbed his face against her chest.

He was suspended for ""inappropriate physical behavior interpreted as sexual contact and/or sexual harassment."

The kid's father filed a complaint with the school district. Their response?

...a subsequent letter from the district said the offense had been changed to "inappropriate physical contact" and removed references of sexual contact or sexual harassment from the boy's file.

Memo to school district: Give it up now, apologize, reinstate the kid and save yourselves a boatload of money.

7 former prison guards and a nurse have been charged with manslaughter in the beating death of juvenile offender Martin Lee Anderson, age 14.

The surveillance tape showed guards kneeing and punching the boy repeatedly during a 30-minute encounter. Guards said he was uncooperative and had refused to participate in exercises.

The death sparked protests at the state Capitol and led to the elimination of the state's military-style boot camp system and the resignation of Florida's top law enforcement officer. If convicted, the former guards and the nurse - who authorities say watched the melee - could get up to 30 years in prison.

Lee later collapsed and died in the excercise yard. Lee was incarcerated for violating probation on a theft case. Here's much more on the case. Here's the video of the beating.

Illiniois has begun to see the light and takes a step in the right direction in dealing with juvenile offenders:

Barbed wire is on the way out as the state's new Juvenile Justice Department stresses education and reform to give young offenders a chance to turn around....For more than three decades, the Illinois Department of Corrections had been responsible both for the state's adult convicts and for juveniles serving time here. But this summer, in a swing of the pendulum away from an emphasis on punishment and back toward a focus on reform, Illinois created a new Department of Juvenile Justice.

...."With kids we have to lock up because of their behavior, our goal is to motivate them, not suppress them," said Malcolm Young, executive director of the John Howard Association of Illinois, a prison advocacy group that helped drive creation of the new agency. "We want to stimulate them with textures, colors, softer sounds, brightness and even food they like, not stultify them in a cold, closed, hard, flat uncaring setting."

Let's hope other states will watch and learn.

Via LaShawn Barber, in Indianapolis, 9 former guards at a juvenile detention facility have been charged with having sex with female teenage detainees, ages 13 to 15 over six years. They "wooed the girls with love letters and gifts, including a teddy bear emblazoned with the words "I Love You."

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said Monday that authorities know of six teenage detainees -- ages 13 to 15 -- who had sex with male employees at the facility between 2000 and 2005. The ex-employees -- eight guards and one control booth operator -- face counts of child molestation, sexual battery or sexual misconduct with a minor, among other charges.

by TChris

Most laws named after crime victims are bad laws, but the Martin Lee Anderson Act is an exception. Martin died after he was beaten by guards at a Florida boot camp. (TalkLeft coverage of Martin's death is collected here.) The Martin Lee Anderson Act ends the "tough love" tactics employed by Florida boot camps.

They are to be replaced by less confrontational academies called Sheriff's Training and Respect, or STAR, that use more education and after care. The law shifts funding from the boot camps to STAR.

Martin's parents applaud the change, but they deserve more.

"But I would still like the guards to be accountable for killing my baby," Jones said, holding a picture of her son in a basketball uniform. "He was only 14."

A special prosecutor is deciding whether charges should be filed.

by TChris

Louisiana's juvenile justice system has always been atrocious, but Orleans Parish's indifference to the welfare of juveniles was particularly evident during Hurricane Katrina.

More than 100 teenagers held in detention during Hurricane Katrina endured horrific conditions in the storm's aftermath, including standing for hours in filthy floodwater, having nothing to eat and drink for three to five days, and being forced to consume the waters as a result, according to a report released here Tuesday.

Those in the "law and order" crowd who are tempted to think that juvenile offenders deserved whatever harm they endured during Katrina should consider this (emphasis added):

"They left us in there with no food and no water," said Eddie Fenceroy, 15, a former detainee against whom charges have since been dismissed, advocates said.

Mr. Fenceroy described standing in the floodwater for "a whole day" before being rescued. "Some people were drinking the water," he said.

In February, TChris wrote about the death of 14 year old Martin Anderson at a Florida boot camp. The first autopsy said Anderson died of causes related to sickle-cell anemia, rather than the beating he sustained by guards.

A second autopsy has been performed. It concludes guards suffocated Anderson while trying to restrain him.

by TChris

As TalkLeft reported here, after 14 year old Martin Anderson died in a Florida boot camp, a medical examiner opined that "sickle cell trait" caused Anderson's death. Martin's parents believe that Martin died as the result of a beating inflicted by boot camp guards -- a beating that was captured on videotape.

A new autopsy supports the parents.

[Dr. Michael Baden, a noted pathologist hired by Anderson's family who observed the second autopsy that was conducted on the teenager's body, said] Monday that the teen probably died from a beating by guards, not sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder, as the medical examiner in the county where the camp was located initially ruled.

"My opinion is that he died because of what you see in the videotape," said Dr. Michael Baden, referring to a surveillance tape showing guards kicking and punching Martin Lee Anderson's limp body the day before he died.

by TChris

A 14 year old boy, Martin Anderson, violated a probation condition. As a consequence, he was sent to a juvenile-detention boot camp in Florida, where he died. A medical examiner, Dr. Charles Siebert, concluded that Martin died from internal bleeding that Siebert attributed to "sickle cell trait, a disorder that caused his red blood cells to change shape and produce 'a whole cascade of events' that led to hemorrhaging." Siebert inferred that bruises on the boy's body were inflicted during efforts to revive him and were unrelated to his death.

Martin's parents believe that Martin died as the result of a beating inflicted by boot camp guards. The beating was videotaped, and the video establishes that the guards abused Martin, whether or not they killed him.

On the 1-hour, 20-minute tape, which has no sound, as many as nine guards can be seen restraining Anderson. Guards kneed him and wrestled him to the ground, where he was repeatedly struck by one guard, either on his arm or the side of his torso, while he lay still. He was limp throughout most of it and never appeared to offer significant resistance.

The "tough love" philosophy that prevails in many boot camps is nothing more than an excuse to abuse kids. A parent who physically mistreated a kid in this way would be arrested. Our society shouldn't tolerate a double standard at boot camps. The Florida camp, and any others like it, should be shut down.

by TChris

Adam Bollenbach was 16 when he stole a six-pack of beer from an open garage. Apart from being young, he’s bipolar and suffers from ADHD. His crime merited an apology, repayment for the beer, and enough supervision to assure that he obtained treatment for his mental health problems. So why is this Florida teen serving a ten year sentence?

Months earlier, Adam had been charged as an adult for theft of a bag of potato chips from his school lunchroom. This charge was dropped, but according to the law, once charged as an adult, you cannot be charged as a juvenile.

Adam went before Circuit Judge Ric Howard who admitted that he was using Adam as a teaching tool in front of other juvenile offenders. The result was a sentence of 10 years in prison.

Adam was sentenced for burglarizing a dwelling, but harsh penalties are intended for those who break into homes at night (potentially putting lives, including the burglar’s, at risk), not for unarmed kids who walk into an open garage during the day. Adam’s plight is, in part, the handiwork of the “tough on crime” crowd, who perceive no difference between kids and adults, and who have successfully lobbied compliant legislators to enact laws that punish teenagers instead of helping them. And it’s partly the fault of a judge who is willing to throw a kid away to make an example out of him. From this travesty, other kids are supposed to learn to respect the law?