The Texas Observer

The Texas Public Policy Foundation hosted the “Mission Redefinition at the Youth Commission” policy primer, June 25, to discuss past legislative reforms, outline priority issues facing the ’09 legislature, and determine the best future role for the TYC.

The juvenile justice experts, officials and advocates who spoke at the primer shared a common belief that, in order to reduce the more than 50 percent recidivism rate of Texas youth offenders, there must be a move to smaller, regionalized TYC facilities, an increase in community-based programs, and expansion of state mental health services.

“While we’ve made improvements, we have a whole long way to go,” said Richard Nedelkoff, TYC conservator. “The TYC population needs to decrease, but the more important thing is, we have to build up the other end, reintegration and community-based programs.”

The capacity crowd ranged from conservative to liberal organizations. The fact that the conservative TPPF hosted the meeting may indicate that this path forward for juvenile justice reform has bipartisan support.

Rep. Jerry Madden, House Committee on Corrections chairman, kicked off the discussion by evaluating the SB 103 reforms. Madden said that, while the bill resulted in some significant achievements, such as increases in TYC oversight, there were also significant failures. The most notable, he said, was the inability to reduce the state’s high recidivism rate.

There was much talk of transitioning from large, rural TYC detention centers to smaller, urban facilities, which would keep youth offenders closer to their families, increase community involvement and allow for specialized treatment.

Mike Griffiths, executive director of Dallas County Juvenile Probation, presented a model outlining these costs, and though it may pay off in the long run, this change would be a big expense for urban counties to absorb. According to Griffiths’ model, a 20-month rehabilitation cycle of 216 juvenile offenders would cost a county $11 million.

Along with the regionalization of facilities, more community-based programs are needed to keep youth integrated in society. Joella Brooks, deputy executive director of Southwest Key Programs, said that keeping youth in the community and including the families of offenders in treatment programs are the key components of successful rehabilitation.

Nedelkoff said the lack of community-based programs, like halfway houses, makes it difficult to reintegrate youth into the community and increases the length of offender stays at TYC.

Fundamental to improving the juvenile justice system are broader state mental health reforms, which could reduce the number of youth entering TYC facilities. Because Texas mental health services are unable to keep up with the state’s growing population, many youth in need are turned away for lack of available beds. As a result, they often end up at TYC instead.

Griffiths said he hears families say they were told to “get their child arrested so they can get mental health treatment.”

“I was not trained as a mental health counselor, but that is what we’ve become,” he said.

Nedelkoff said meeting the needs of youth with mental health issues is a nationwide problem that has haunted him in every state he has worked in throughout his career 29-year criminal justice career.

The Observer has obtained a second lawsuit - 4848 Aspermont Ltd vs. Alamo Title, et al - accusing GOP House candidate Isaac Castro of fraud. Castro is running against state Rep. Joe Heflin (D-Crosbyton) for House District 85. The courts will ultimately decide the merits of these cases. Nonetheless, the timing is bad for Castro. The first suit, in Stonewall County, is likely to go to trial in August or September, in the heat of campaigning, according to plaintiff’s attorney Travis Ware. Depositions are already underway.

Filed in Dallas County in May, the 4848 Aspermont suit is linked closely to the Stonewall County estate battle we wrote about last week. The plaintiff, a real estate vehicle called 4848 Aspermont LTD, accuses Castro of conspiring with the Hamlin National Bank, two title companies, and a handful of real estate wheeler-dealers to flip a West Texas ranch three times without disclosing pending litigation over the ranch to the buyers. (In legalese, the required disclosure is called Lis pendens.) The case is a doozy, so here’s some narrative to help explain the situation… Read the rest of this entry »

Today the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff’s all encompassing powers to waive federal laws to build a border fence, effectively ending the case.

The Defenders of Wildlife and Sierra Club had petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court. Their argument was a simple one: Chertoff, a political appointee who is not directly accountable to American voters, should not have the authority to bypass almost any federal law that he chooses.

On April 1, Chertoff waived 37 federal laws ranging from the Antiquities Act to the Native American Grave Repatriation Act.

Apparently, the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t have a problem with Chertoff’s all encompassing powers. It was a sad day for the rule of law.

Matt Clark, the southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, has been working on the lawsuit for more than a year. He was especially crushed that the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t even deem it necessary to explain why it declined to hear the case.

“I’ve worked for many years on some very hard environmental battles,” says Clark. “But I can say this is the first time I’ve ever been really really depressed about how our government is handling things.”

Congress gave Chertoff the power to steamroll the legal system through an obscure provision in the Real ID act, the gift that keeps on giving. Not only does it grant Chertoff unprecedented power, his waivers cannot be challenged in court. The only ray of light in a very dark judicial tunnel is a constitutional challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is under no obligation to hear the case.

Both Defenders and Sierra Club say their focus is now Congress (don’t hold your breath). “Our hope is that Congress will pass something to rectify its mistake,” Clark says. “We need accountability, transparency and a government who listens to its people.”

There is also a similar challenge in a federal court in El Paso. “We still insist that this is a violation of the separation of powers and that it’s unconstitutional,” says Oliver Bernstein of the Sierra Club. The club is not involved in the El Paso case but is watching with interest. “We don’t see any reason the outcome [of the El Paso case] would be redetermined,” says Bernstein.

Clark says Defenders of Wildlife will continue to push Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva’s legislation to repeal Chertoff’s waiver authority. To date, 49 congressional members have signed on to Grijalva’s bill doing so, including every single border legislator with the exception of two. No Republicans have signed on as of yet, however.

Clark says he watches the progress of the border fence daily in Arizona. Just the other day he visited the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where Chertoff is erecting an 18-foot steel wall and destroying the natural environment in the process. Building in the desert will still be easier than the logistical challenges that await them in Texas. “They have no idea what they are up against, particularly in South Texas,” says Bernstein.

At $4 million a mile, taxpayers can be rest assured the only thing our government is securing is our tax dollars.

Given the Texas Youth Commission’s history of inmate abuse and scandal is true reform even possible?

The tales of horrifying incidents—the Observer’s expose on sex abuse at a TYC facility in West Texas, the stories of indiscriminate use of pepper spray by guards, an ACLU lawsuit detailing mistreatment of girls at TYC’s Brownwood facility—while upsetting, hardly surprise anymore.

In fact, the agency’s bad rap sheet stretches back almost 30 years, to the Morales v. Turman federal lawsuit that aimed to reform the Texas juvenile justice system. Unfortunately, the suit was to be the first of many in an ongoing cycle of abuse, exposure and promised reform.

Perhaps the agency has been so hard to rehabilitate because its problems extend beyond a handful of troubled facilities or a flawed approach to juvenile justice. Mental health advocates blame public officials’ failure to recognize the importance of early intervention programs within the mental health system statewide as a key culprit.

“If we addressed these problems early on, with community and school-based programs, these kids wouldn’t end up at TYC,” says Jodie Smith, public policy director of Texans Care for Children.

But, in Texas, a state ranked 49th in the nation for mental health funding, kids in need often don’t get any psychiatric help until they are already deeply entrenched in the criminal justice system.

“Our aim is to rehabilitate these kids, but many of them have never been ‘habilitated’ in the first place,” said Jim Hurley, TYC spokesman. “They never received adequate education or care.”

TYC has undergone massive reforms in the past year, including instituting 300 hours of required training for each staff member and increasing agency transparency, says Hurley.

The fact remains, however, 38 percent of its youth have serious mental health problems, and another 72 percent come from “chronically chaotic households” (a condition often linked to later development of PTSD, depression and addiction)—shifting the culture and practices of the agency to meet such a large need takes money, resources and time.

For the ACLU, who recently filed another lawsuit against the agency, time was the problem. “We felt progress of reform was too slow, and that filing suit was the best way to meet our clients pressing needs,” said ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke.

There’s little doubt seclusion and restraint practices only exacerbate any mental problems adolescents may have. And, the ACLU accounts of the treatment of these juveniles, which (among many heart-wrenching scenes) cite instances of TYC officers making fun of suicidal young girls, are, without doubt, devastating.

Immediately after the suit was filed, TYC made changes to their guidelines for conducting strip searches, says Burke.

But these changes likely will not be enough.

Until there is a shift in thinking and dollars toward early intervention, not at TYC, but at the legislative and societal level, says Smith, these problems will continue.

Four months have passed since the Observer’s Hole in the Wall story came out. The story focused on the struggle of 72-year old Eloisa Tamez and 76-year old Daniel Garza to save their properties, which have been designated for destruction by a border fence. Meanwhile, the planned fence will bypass the wealthy in the area, such as Dallas billionaire Ray Hunt. (According to Forbes magazine, Hunt ranks at number 292 on their list of the richest people in the world.)

The Observer article prompted much debate and discussion as to whether the border fence was biased toward lower income people. A working group of faculty and students at the University of Texas at Austin Law School have now released a statistical study that illustrates a divide between rich and poor when it comes to the border fence placement.

The group has submitted their findings to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an intergovernmental body of the Organization of American States. The Commission monitors compliance by member states, including the United States, with issues of human rights and international law.

Dr. Jeff Wilson, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at The University of Texas at Brownsville, conducted the statistical study. He found that “The border wall and the necessary taking of property resulting from its construction will disproportionately impact poor Latino immigrant families.”

Wilson analyzed data for the Cameron County portion of the fence.

He divided the study into “gaps” and “fence” to determine if there was any significant statistical difference between those who will have the border fence on their property and those who won’t get a fence. Wilson found that the group who won’t get the fence are older, wealthier, more likely to be Anglo and not recent immigrants.

Many landowners like Tamez say that Secretary Chertoff and Homeland Security have never adequately explained to landowners why their houses are being targeted for a fence while other properties are not on the list.

Landowners have felt for some time that income level and ability to defend oneself, eg. the number of lawyers one can hire, has something to do with the equation.

The group also found other human rights abuses including: violations of the rights of indigenous communities, and severe degradation of the environment.

The working group is asking the Commission to bring up their findings at its July meeting and to hold a hearing on the Texas-Mexico border wall in October.

Hamlin attorney Isaac Castro, the Republican running against state Rep. Joe Heflin (D-Crosbyton) in House District 85, has been accused of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence in a complex lawsuit in Stonewall County, the Observer has learned. The litigation centers around two brothers, John and Bob Denison, who have been fighting for a decade over their mother’s estate, which includes a 6,200-acre West Texas ranch, oil and gas royalties, and an historical courthouse in the ghost town of Rayner. As probate matters often do, things have gotten nasty between the Brothers Denison. (Read the suit. Warning: large .pdf file.)

Bob accuses John of driving the estate into insolvency and profiting off illegal transactions, including the secretive sale of the ranch to T. Boone Pickens, the legendary Texas oilman-turned-water-baron. Castro, who served as John’s attorney, was added as a third party defendant to the suit in December 2006.

The suit claims that Castro “unlawfully aided” Brother John in exploiting the estate for personal gain. For example, Castro allegedly helped John obtain a loan from the Hamlin National Bank (Castro was also acting as an agent for the bank) backed by Bob’s half interest in the estate. At the time, the estate owed delinquent property and federal taxes and was subject to a federal lien. Castro “facilitated [John Denison’s] fraud and breach of fiduciary duties” and “collected attorney fees, or benefited in some other disguised manner, such as commission or property,” the suit states.

In a statement to the Observer, Castro said: “It is unfortunate that in Texas today people can still file frivolous lawsuits with no legal justification. The fact that I represent my client vigorously and with due diligence should never mean I should be party to this frivolous lawsuit. This is yet another reason why I am running for state representative, because we need thoughtful legislators who will work to bring additional lawsuit reform to our state’s honorable legal system.”

In a court filing, Castro argues the claims against him are “without merit” and “brought for the purpose of harassment.” Specifically, Castro complains in the filing that the “allegations are so general” that he does not have “fair notice of the claim.” He asks the judge to throw the suit out.

(Note: a second suit -titled 4848 Aspermont LTD v. Alamo Title Company, et al - in which Castro is also named as a defendant was filed in Dallas County in May. The Observer has not been able to obtain a copy of the suit but sources say it is related to the Denison case.)

The outcome of the Castro-Heflin match-up will be pivotal for control of the House. Reached by phone today, Rep. Heflin - an attorney himself - said he had no plans to make the lawsuit an issue in the race at this point.

Port Arthur (population: 58,000) has produced more than its fair share of ridiculously talented people - Janis Joplin, Robert Rauschenberg, Clifford Antone, Jimmy Johnson, and Pimp C to name a few. Maybe there’s something in the water.

Unfortunately, mostly what’s in the water, air, and soil in Port Arthur these days is an unhealthy gumbo of toxic crap released by the petrochemical companies abutting the town’s West Side. And now a French-owned company, Veolia, wants to import 20,000 tons of toxic PCBs from Mexico for incineration in its Port Arthur facility. Despite a decades-old law banning the import of PCBs into the United States, the EPA has granted preliminary approval to the idea. Now, some locals and enviros are crying foul.

Today, the EPA is holding a meeting in Port Arthur (more information) to hear from the parties. Judging from some of the public comments submitted to the EPA already, regulators will be getting an earful. One letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson begins, “Dear Whore for Vested Corporate Interests…” Another impolitic valentine compares the Mexican PCBs to the immigration of “ILLEGAL MEXICAN ALIENS.” (By the way, what is it with anti-immigrant types and CAPITALIZATION?!)

Most damning are comments from Adlene Harrison, a former administrator for EPA’s Region 6, which includes Texas and Arkansas. In an affidavit circulated today by the Sierra Club, she reflects on her own approval of PCB incinerators in Arkansas and Texas during her tenure.

I would not make the same decision today. I have since come to the conclusion that incinerators of PCBs, Dioxin, and hazardous wastes, if such incinerators are to be used at all, should not be located in populated areas nor should they be located in areas where farming is done, where livestock is raised, or where they might otherwise contaminate the food chain.

Later in the affidavit she writes:

During my tenure as Region 6 EPA Administrator, it was clear that I had the authority, and the obligation, to delay approval of a trial burn or final permit, or to deny approval, if I received information that indicated the trial burn or incinerator operation might pose a significant health risk… There is no doubt in my mind that the current EPA Administrator and Regional Administrator have this same authority and obligation.