Louisiana Children in Louisiana Findings Letter
BY OVERNIGHT MAIL
The Honorable Mike Foster
Governor of Louisiana
State Capitol
P. O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004
Re: Investigation of Secure Correctional Facilities for Children in
Louisiana Children in Louisiana
Dear Governor Foster:
As you know, we are currently investigating conditions at the secure
correctional facilities for children in Louisiana. Following our June tours
of two of the facilities, Louisiana Training Institute at Bridge City and
Jetson Correctional Center for Youth, we notified you on July 15, 1996
that we had uncovered serious systemic problems with staff abuse and juvenile-on-juvenile
violence at these two facilities. Given the gravity of the situation, we
asked the State to begin addressing these dangerous conditions immediately.
As we have found at every step of this investigation to date, the State
responded in a prompt and cooperative manner. Within days of our July 15th
letter, your Executive Counsel and your Secretary of Corrections contacted
us with their offer to meet to discuss Louisiana's response to our interim
findings.
On July 30, 1966 the State presented its response to our findings, "Project
Zero Tolerance," which incorporated a number of the recommendations for
immediate action that we made in our July 15th letter. Notably, the State
took the admirable initiative of implementing Project Zero Tolerance statewide
rather than limiting it to the two facilities addressed in our July 15th
letter. Although not all of our recommendations were incorporated in Project
Zero Tolerance, we agreed that the Project should go forward, on the condition
that it may need revisions or additions based on our continuing investigation.
The State launched Project Zero Tolerance on August 1, 1996.
Because State officials at all levels have expressed their desire to
work with us in the event that our investigation revealed problems in the
system, we again take the unusual step of writing to you to report additional
interim findings based upon our August investigation of the two remaining
facilities, Louisiana Training Institute at Monroe and Tallulah Correctional
Center for Youth. Our most recent tours revealed life-threatening and dangerous
conditions in these facilities that are similar to conditions we found
in June at Bridge City and Jetson.
We toured Monroe and Tallulah during the weeks of August 19 and August
26. At the end of both tours, we notified facility officials that we uncovered
serious systemic problems with staff abuse and juvenile-on-juvenile violence
at each facility. In both cases, we also provided names of juveniles whom
we felt were at particularly high levels of risk. A few examples of the
type of evidence that we discovered include:
* At both Monroe and Tallulah (as we had previously found at Bridge
City and Jetson), almost each of the more than 100 children we interviewed
spoke of being hit and/or kicked by officers and seeing other children
being hit and/or kicked by officers. Children reported being assaulted
by officers for such minor offenses as talking, not running fast enough,
and not walking in line. Several juveniles at Tallulah described how a
guard crushes their testicles with his outstretched arms during routine
spread-eagle searches. A juvenile at Tallulah described how a guard punched,
choked and hit him on the head with a radio for failing to put his tee
shirt on properly. When the child "balled up" on the ground to signal that
he was not fighting back, the officer kicked him in the face and head and
maced him. At Monroe, a child reported being hit on the head with a padlock,
causing a laceration requiring sutures, merely because he was turning the
faucets on a sink on and off. Similarly, a Monroe juvenile reported that
an officer hit him on the head with handcuffs, causing a laceration requiring
multiple stitches. Another Monroe juvenile reported that as he was lying
on the ground after a fight between juveniles, a guard ran up and kicked
him in the face in front of several witnesses, breaking his nose. A number
of juveniles alleged that officers hit them once they are restrained in
handcuffs and defenseless.
* Guards at both Monroe and Tallulah allegedly avoid detection for abuse
by taking a juvenile to areas where cameras will not record their actions.
At Tallulah, we received reports that guards take children, alone or in
groups, into the "cut," the area underneath the cameras and thus out of
viewing range, where the children are assaulted. For instance, a Tallulah
juvenile reported that a guard took him into the cut and assaulted him
for failing to complete a series of exercises. When the juvenile reported
the incident to supervisory correctional personnel, the guard threatened
the safety of the juvenile's family and stated that other juveniles were
going to jump him in retaliation for reporting the abuse. At Monroe, even
though there are cameras in the closed campus dorms, guards allegedly also
take children into areas not monitored by the cameras to assault them.
* At both Monroe and Tallulah, misuse and overuse of chemical and mechanical
restraints and isolation contribute to a culture of violence within the
facilities. For example, children are isolated in solitary confinement
for extended periods of time for minor disciplinary infractions or even
for suicide attempts. Moreover, guards using chemical restraints at each
facility are exerting excessive force on the juveniles. At Tallulah, records
indicate that juveniles are maced for such minor infractions as cursing
at correctional staff, kicking the door to their rooms, refusing to get
off of the telephone, and refusing to go into their rooms. A Tallulah juvenile
with glaucoma was recently sprayed with mace in spite of a medical order
indicating that the juvenile had had eye surgery and should not receive
any chemicals or trauma which could cause blindness. At both Monroe and
Tallulah, juveniles reported being maced long after a fight is broken up
-- some while their hands are cuffed behind their backs. While we toured
Monroe, a child who had been placed in handcuffs for throwing water on
a guard was subdued and standing still when a Lieutenant arrived on the
scene and maced him with two cans of spray. Another Monroe juvenile
reported that, following a fight that was broken up by guards, he was lying
face down with his hands cuffed behind his back when a Lieutenant arrived
on the scene, ordered him to stand, and proceeded to mace him. A day before
our tour of Tallulah began, a guard broke up a fight between two juveniles.
We received reports that two additional guards entered the room and each
sprayed a juvenile with mace while pushing, punching, kicking and slapping
him. The juvenile was sent to the hospital for sutures to close his head
wound resulting from the staff abuse.
* At both Monroe and Tallulah, children who had sustained serious injuries
at the hands of other children reported being "snooked" or "snuck" (being
assaulted by surprise by other offenders whom they did not know well or
with whom they had no known grievance).
At both Monroe and Tallulah, juveniles report that juvenile-on-juvenile
assaults are often set up by the guards who seek to teach the victim a
lesson. Juveniles at Monroe spoke of a "sixty," which is a guard's promise
to give a child a package of sixty cookies if the child can injure another
child badly enough to require hospitalization. In other cases, juveniles
report that peers receive chips or cigarettes from guards to complete a
"hit." When one juvenile first arrived at Monroe and aggravated a guard,
the guard made the child stand alone under the TV at the front of the dorm.
A large juvenile whom the child did not know approached him and choked
him until he lost consciousness. As he resumed consciousness, the large
juvenile began hitting the victim's head on the floor. Another Monroe juvenile
describes getting "snooked" by another juvenile he did not know; the child's
eye socket was broken and required surgery.
* At both Monroe and Tallulah, juveniles report that guards allow offenders
to fight with other offenders without intervening. At Tallulah, this practice
is known as "opening the cut," the "cut" being the area out of camera range
at the front of the dorms. Some Tallulah juveniles further reported that
guards order juveniles to fight with each other, threatening beatings by
guards for failure to fight. One Tallulah juvenile described a practice
known as the "valley of death," where guards require juveniles to stand
in a letter U formation and force a juvenile to walk into the "valley,"
where the child gets punched by the other juveniles.
* At both Monroe and Tallulah, we uncovered a number of egregious behavioral
control techniques -- amounting to gross abuse -- being used by guards.
For instance, at Tallulah, a number of juveniles described an initiation
rite allegedly practiced by a guard in one dorm. On the first night that
the guard works after a child is assigned to the dorm, the child is taken
to the showers and out of camera range, where his arms are held by his
peers while assuming a spread eagle position against the wall. The guard
pulls the child's pants down and whips him with a leather belt several
times. The child is threatened with a worse beating or group punishment
for the entire dorm if the child seeks medical attention from the infirmary
for the beating or reports the abuse to anyone else. Another guard routinely
witnesses the initiation rite. A number of juveniles at Tallulah also reported
that this same guard also conducts "initiations" by ordering juveniles
on the units to beat up the new juveniles in the shower.
* Documented injuries at both Monroe and Tallulah confirm the seriousness
of the level of violence in both facilities. From July 1 through August
19, 1996, 24 juveniles at Monroe were confined for at least one night in
the infirmary for serious injuries caused by assaults from other offenders
or from staff. Ten were injured so severely that they required stays of
seven days or longer. During that period, ten children suffered fractures
to the jaw, eye socket, nose, hand or ankle. During that same period, five
children suffered serious eye injuries and one child was placed in the
infirmary for injuries attributed to anal rape.
* Although serious injuries were a common problem at all of the four
Louisiana juvenile facilities we toured, the frequency and seriousness
of injuries was the greatest at Tallulah. On the day we arrived at Tallulah,
there were three juveniles in the infirmary with broken jaws and two with
broken noses. In the first 20 days in August following initiation of Project
Zero Tolerance, 28 Tallulah children were sent to the hospital for evaluation
and/or treatment of serious injuries, including fractures or suspected
fractures and serious lacerations in need of suturing. One child suffered
a laceration to his penis of "unknown" origin. Medical personnel reported
that they saw a juvenile with a perforated eardrum about every two weeks
and that on one particular occasion, the physician saw
eight ruptured
eardrums in one day. Almost all of these injuries were attributed to staff
assaults or juvenile-on-juvenile violence.
* While a recounting of the aggregate injury statistics at Tallulah
reflects the pervasiveness of the violence, an examination of the underlying
incidents reveals the physical and emotional costs. For instance, one 14
year old at Tallulah is severely depressed and taking psychotropics for
his depression. In May, he reported to the infirmary, stating that while
he was in the bathroom, another offender grabbed him and held him and choked
him. He lost consciousness and when he woke up, he stated that his pants
had been pulled down. A medical exam at Tallulah confirmed anal rape, but
the boy was not referred for any rape counseling. Days before we arrived
at Tallulah, this same boy was involved in an offender fight. A nursing
assessment found a laceration to the left side of his nose, a discolored
left eye, scratches on both sides of his neck, a swollen jaw and a purple
area on the base of his neck. The child was sent to the hospital, where
staff confirmed a fractured nose and an injured jaw.
* At both Monroe and Tallulah, children repeatedly stated that they
were afraid to report staff abuse because of the possibility of retaliation.
Many non-correctional staff disclosed that offenders often misrepresent
the cause of injuries due to staff abuse because the children feel that
telling the truth would only subject them to more abuse. In many instances,
children are allegedly coerced by guards not to seek medical attention
for injuries suffered from staff abuse with threats of further abuse. Furthermore,
internal investigations of alleged assaults at both facilities are seriously
flawed. As a result, almost none of the abuse allegations filed by children
are ever adequately investigated, leaving juveniles without faith in the
process and little incentive to come forward to report abuse.
In addition to the concerns raised by evidence of continued systemic
staff and juvenile-on-juvenile abuse at both Monroe and Tallulah, we uncovered
evidence of certain medical and mental health problems at the facilities
that pose serious risk of harm and thus necessitate immediate remediation.
These conditions include:
* Tallulah lacks adequate suicide prevention measures/plans in the Java
unit. The Java unit, which houses 80 of the most aggressive juveniles in
the system, is ringed with metal pipes that present serious hanging risks
to juveniles with suicidal tendencies. Furthermore, Tallulah has absolutely
no plan in place to address emergencies created when juveniles attempt
to hang themselves from these rails. An incident that occurred in the presence
of Justice Department representatives illustrates the point. On August
22, 1996, while Justice Department representatives were interviewing juveniles
confined in Java Unit D, two juveniles climbed to second tier railing and
tied nooses around their necks. While the guards attended to the two juveniles
at risk of hanging on the upper tier of the unit, the remaining juveniles
in the unit were left unattended with Justice Department representatives
on the floor below. The juveniles on the floor grew increasingly agitated
and aggressive. Seeing this, the guards abandoned the children in nooses
and came down to put the remaining juveniles in their cells. Only after
all the remaining juveniles were in their cells and the guards had returned
to the two children in nooses still suspended from the rails did additional
correctional staff appear. The officer in the control room failed to call
immediately for additional staff to help with this crisis.
* Both facilities fail to respond to juveniles' requests for HIV testing.
For instance, a Monroe child's infirmary record contained a note the child
had written requesting a test for HIV, stating that he had had sex with
another boy known to have many partners. As far as can be determined from
the child's medical record, he was never afforded a test, counselling,
or even any contact from staff regarding his note. A juvenile at Tallulah
discussed his multiple sexual partners, including two episodes of anal
intercourse with a guard. An incident report exam indicates that on one
such occasion, the juvenile had a rectal tear. The juvenile reported that
he requested a test for HIV but had not received it yet.
* Tallulah staff and juveniles are not practicing universal infection
control precautions when there is an exposure to blood. For instance, during
our tour, a Justice Department representative pointed out a significant
amount of dried blood on a living unit and was informed by staff that on
the previous day, a juvenile had attempted to commit suicide. The blood
was finally removed when a guard ordered a juvenile to clean it up. The
juvenile proceeded to do so without any gloves to protect him from possible
contamination from such serious infectious diseases as Hepatitis B.
* The staff at Tallulah do not provide adequate medical treatment to
juveniles with serious asthma conditions. Medical staff and medical records
confirmed that staff routinely deny juveniles with asthma problems access
to immediate medical care. Moreover, the facility fails to provide timely
medical/nursing assessments for asthma and fails to refer juveniles with
serious asthma problems for appropriate physician intervention. For instance,
a juvenile with serious asthma is in Tallulah's physically demanding boot
camp program. The medical chart of the juvenile indicates that he
had complained of shortness of breath on at least twenty-three different
occasions since May 27, 1996. The facility's physician was never informed
of the frequency of his medical complaints.
Necessary Remedial Measures
Because of the seriousness of the level of violence that we found in
both Monroe and Tallulah, even after the initiation of Project Zero Tolerance,
it is apparent that the efforts instituted to date have either not been
sufficient to prevent a pattern and practice of abuse at the facilities
or have not been effectively implemented at the facilities. It is therefore
critical that the State take additional immediate preliminary remedial
measures to fully enforce Project Zero Tolerance and swiftly correct these
life-threatening and dangerous deficiencies. Moreover, the State should
take immediate action to address the dangerous medical concerns we identified.
In particular, the State and any facility under contract with the State
should immediately implement the following remedial measures:
1. As soon as possible, but in no event later than November 1, 1996,
the State must ensure that independent and trained investigators are assigned
to work on-site at each facility.
The investigators should report to and be supervised by Major Gary McDonald
and Dr. Cecile Guin of Project Zero Tolerance. These investigators must
review and investigate all incidents of serious injury and all allegations
of abuse, neglect, mistreatment or use of force. The investigators must
have the independent authority to interview children and initiate investigations
without the prior approval of the facility administrators. Initially, these
investigators should be assigned at a ratio of 1:250 incarcerated youth
per facility. The adequacy of this ratio should be re-evaluated after six
months.
2. At Tallulah, the closed circuit camera system should immediately
be expanded to ensure that all areas of the housing units (including the
Java unit, which presently has no cameras) have auditory and visual monitoring
and videotaping with simultaneous audiotaping on a twenty-four hour basis.
All videotape of unusual incidents should be made available immediately
to the investigators described in the above paragraph and the facility
should retain all videotapes for a minimum period of six months.
3. Immediate steps should be taken to ensure weekly unannounced visits
to all infirmaries by Central Office nursing personnel. During these visits,
Central Office nurses should review injury, accident, use of force and
other unusual incident reports as well as medical records and photographs
of injuries with attention to the possible abuse, neglect, or mistreatment
of children, and interview the children, if appropriate. These nurses should
issue a monthly report of their activities to the State, the Department
of Justice, the Project Zero Tolerance Task Force, and to the investigators
described in paragraph one, above.
4. The State should conduct criminal background checks (checking with
the National Crime Information Center, State police, local district attorneys'
offices, and the Louisiana child abuse registry) on all existing staff
and future staff by November 15, 1996 and take appropriate action to protect
the welfare and safety of juveniles based upon information obtained from
the background checks.
5. To address the excessive use of force, immediate steps should be
taken to ensure that within three months, all current staff are trained
and certified in an appropriate passive restraint training program. All
new staff who have contact with youth should be required to attend initial
restraint certification training before working within the institution,
followed by a yearly re-certification for all staff. In conjunction with
the passive restraint training and certification program, the State should
develop and implement a Standard Operating Procedure delineating acceptable
restraint methods.
6. The State must re-evaluate its decision to use chemical restraints
in juvenile facilities. At a minimum, the State should develop and implement
a uniform policy regarding the use of chemical restraints which permits
the use of chemical restraints only in an extreme emergency situation to
temporarily incapacitate an actively dangerous person. In no event may
a chemical restraint be used as punishment, discipline, retaliation, or
to inflict pain.
7. The State must ensure that all of its juvenile training schools immediately
cease using isolation and mechanical restraints for punishment, discipline
(with the exception of incidents involving battery, riot, or escape), or
convenience of staff. Isolation or mechanical restraints should be used
only to control behavior that poses a clear and present danger and where
all other less restrictive and less invasive techniques have failed. The
State must develop and implement procedures to ensure that whenever staff
place a juvenile in isolation or mechanical restraints, appropriate staff
adequately monitor the condition of the juvenile, record essential information,
and make referrals for mental health evaluation and treatment when warranted.
In no event should a facility place an actively self-injurious juvenile
in isolation. All efforts should be made by staff to assist the juvenile
in regaining control of his/her behavior so that isolation or mechanical
restraints may be lifted at the earliest possible time.
8. Except for use in transporting juveniles, where the use of handcuffs
and leg shackles may be necessary, the State must immediately ensure that
the only approved means of mechanical restraint is the use of handcuffs.
Handcuffs should only be used to control aggressive or assaultive behavior
that is a clear and present danger to the resident, another resident, staff,
or the security of the facility. The use of handcuffs should be limited
to the minimum period of time necessary to enable the juvenile to gain
control of his behavior. A staff person should remain with the handcuffed
juvenile and should have no duties or responsibilities other than the supervision
of the juvenile. The staff person should ensure that the physical needs
of the juvenile are met promptly. The handcuffs should be applied behind
the back in a manner to minimize the risk of injury to the resident and
staff person responsible for supervising the resident. In no event may
handcuffs or other mechanical devices be used to bind a juvenile's wrists
to his ankles. The juvenile should be taken to the infirmary as soon as
possible after application of handcuffs for medical examination.
9. The "rails" in the Java units at Tallulah must be modified within
one month to alleviate the suicide/injury risk. A crisis protocol should
be put in place immediately at Tallulah to manage suicide attempts and
suicide gestures, including threats of self-harm. The protocol should include
training of guards, provisions for assistance during crisis by social workers
and counselors, and a list of individuals who must be alerted during a
suicide attempt or suicide gestures, including threats of self-harm.
10. A protocol should be put in place immediately at Tallulah to ensure
that universal infection control precautions are implemented whenever there
is a risk of exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials.
The protocol should include training of guards and juveniles on the use
of these precautions.
11. The State should immediately ensure that any juvenile who requests
a test for HIV be given the test and its results promptly.
12. The State should immediately ensure that any juvenile at Tallulah
with asthma is provided with appropriate medical care.
Given the urgency of addressing these deficiencies, we will contact
your Executive Counsel within the next week to discuss the remedial measures
in greater detail and the State's willingness to take immediate corrective
action. We believe that the results of our investigation at all of the
facilities provide a basis for action pursuant not only to the Civil Rights
of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997, et seq.,
but also appear to constitute a violation of the Police Misconduct Provision
of the 1994 Crime Bill, 42 U.S.C. § 14141. However, because the State
has expressed its desire to cooperate in this investigation and we would
prefer to address the dangerous deficiencies swiftly and without resort
to litigation to obtain necessary relief, we make this offer to jointly
address the deficiencies in the most expeditious manner.
Sincerely,
Deval L. Patrick
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
cc: The Honorable Cheney C. Joseph, Jr.
Executive Counsel to the Governor
The Honorable Richard Ieyoub
Attorney General of Louisiana
Mr. Richard Stalder
Secretary for the Department of
Public Safety and Corrections
Mr. Richard Curry
Special Assistant Attorney General for the
Department of Public Safety and Corrections
Judge William Roberts
Attorney for the Trans-America Corporation, owners of the Tallulah
Correctional Center for Youth
Ms. Susan Wible
Superintendent
Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth
Mr. Robert C. Dunavent
Superintendent
Louisiana Training Institute at Monroe
Court Expert
Williams v. Edwards, C.A. No. 71-98-B (M.D. Ala.)
The Honorable Eddie J. Jordan, Jr.
United States Attorney
Eastern District of Louisiana
The Honorable L. J. Hymel, Jr.
United States Attorney
Middle District of Louisiana
The Honorable Michael D. Skinner
United States Attorney
Western District of Louisiana
Updated July 25, 2008