National Urban League and Texas Affiliates Demand Immediate Action to Address Inhumane Juvenile Justice Conditions
NEW YORK, AUSTIN & HOUSTON (August 5, 2024) – The National Urban League and its affiliates in Texas today demanded that the Texas Juvenile Justice Department take immediate action to remedy the inhumane conditions at its facilities.
“The level of abuse revealed in the U.S. Justice Department’s report goes beyond mere dereliction of duty,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “It is a violation of the most basic standards of human decency.”
Federal investigators revealed routine use of excessive force, including assault with pepper spray, dangerous restraint techniques, and isolation that lasted for weeks. The department’s negligence created what investigators called a “pervasive atmosphere of sexual abuse, grooming and lack of staff accountability and training.”
Furthermore, incarcerated children with disabilities do not receive a “free appropriate public education,” and that special education services fall far short of federal law.
Quincy Dunlap, President and CEO of the Austin Area Urban League, said, “The inhuman treatment, lack of empathy and brutality shown to vulnerable children in the care of the state of Texas is a negative stain of shame on our state. Immediate implementation of the Justice Department’s recommendations and swift justice for those responsible must be our highest priority.”
Among the Justice Department’s recommendations are revisions to use of force policies, a systemwide positive behavior management program, limits to the use of isolation, more stringent safeguards against sexual abuse, improved mental health screening, assessment, and care, and an overhaul of special education programs.
“The children in these facilities who struggle with disabilities and mental health issues aren’t simply denied the treatment and educational resources they deserve,” Houston Area Urban League President and CEO Judson W. Robinson III said. “They are further traumatized by violence, psychological abuse, and active discrimination. Justice officials in Texas are exacerbating a problem they were entrusted to solve, at the expense of children’s health, safety, and future.”