Indiana Judge Will Not Send Anymore Girls To Indiana Girls School

Okay, folks... here is another recent example of the horrendous state of our juvenile justice system in Indiana. This article is about Indiana Girls' School, this is where my 15 year old daughter was at for over a year. Throughout my blogs you will read of the criminal and deploring acts my child and others were subjected to while under state care. Unfortunately, the problem is not isolated to Indiana and is rampant around the country! What are we doing to our youth? How can we expect them act when they get out after suffering in the manner they have? If you think you don't care... then think about this... would you rather have a teen put in a detention center that is rehabilitative and teaches morals and ethics, gives them an education and proper counseling and prepares them to effectively move back into society live next door to you and your kids after they are released...OR ... a child who has had bad morals instilled upon them through observation and environment, and has been beaten or molested, has had no education, poor counseling and has not been taught how to cope with society after release??????? It makes a difference when it gets a little closer to home, doesn't it?
Please take the time to read this article and many resources on this site. I hope it inspires some action and at least a post!!! Thanks~!
D

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Focus is on Indiana law, and on interesting developments in law, government, and more (not just in Indiana).

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Ind. Courts - "St. Joseph County judge has stopped sending female offenders to the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility" [Updated]

Tim Evans of the Indianapolis Star reports in the main story today on the front-page of the paper:

A St. Joseph County judge has stopped sending female offenders to the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility, claiming the state-run detention center is understaffed and lacks adequate rehabilitative and educational services.

"I have decided it is neither safe nor productive" to continue sending female juveniles to the Department of Correction facility on Girls School Road, Nemeth said in a letter he sent Monday to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Nemeth said he was appealing directly to the governor after attempts to work out problems with DOC Commissioner J. David Donahue were unsuccessful.

The judge said his decision to stop placing youths at the state facility was the result of his court-ordered review of the facility conducted in October. His letter said that review turned up numerous deficiencies, including:

• Inadequate staffing to maintain a safe environment.

• Classroom settings that "can only be described as nonproductive at best."

• The lack of vocational programs.

• The failure by the facility psychiatrist in many cases to adequately explain to inmates why they have been placed on psychotropic drugs, to justify their continued use and to provide a monthly follow-up.

[Updated 12 PM] Jeff Parrott of the South Bend Tribune now has a story, based on interviews this morning. Some quotes:

St. Joseph County’s juvenile judge says he is so concerned about conditions at the Indiana Girls School that he won’t send any more girls there until changes are made.

In a pointed letter he sent this week to Gov. Mitch Daniels, Judge Peter Nemeth said the Indianapolis facility, along with the so-called Indiana Boys School in Pendleton, must stop treating children as "adult prisoners" instead of training and rehabilitating them to re-enter the community.

"There’s no requirement that anybody achieve anything," Nemeth told The Tribune today. "It’s like how they warehouse them in the adult system. You do your time and you’re gone." * * *

Nemeth said his staff has learned through interviews with St. Joseph County girls at the facility that many are having frequent sex with each other there because staff levels are too low for adequate supervision. Some staff know it’s happening but don’t care, some girls have told Nemeth’s personnel.

The girls also complained that male staff members, men they identify by name, often make sexual advances toward them, speaking and touching them inappropriately.

Speaking with The Tribune, Nemeth called homosexual sex "aberrant" and "not normal," but said heterosexual sex also has no place in a juvenile rehabilitative setting, where the juvenile needs to instead focus on changing thinking and behavior.

More importantly, the rampant sex, if true, is symptomatic of the underlying lack of supervision and staffing, the judge told The Tribune.

"My staff has attempted to work through (Department of Correction) Commissioner (J. David) Donahue’s office, but I suspect that he is inhibited by fiscal restraints placed upon his department, so that is why I am appealing directly to you to ‘fix’ the Department of Correction as it applies to juveniles," Nemeth wrote to Daniels.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 20, 2007 07:30 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts