By Jamiles Lartey, Photo: Olivia Perillo/The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, August 13, 2022
*Ed. note - Why this article? Conditions in juvenile detention facilities can lead to lasting mental harm. Integrating practices based on PACEs science can help solve this.
In Texas, children and teens in the juvenile justice system are routinely locked in cells for all but 30 minutes a day, and nearly half are on suicide watch.
This week, the director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the agency in charge of the state’s five juvenile prisons, told lawmakers the system is on the verge of collapse. The hearing came a week after the Texas Tribune revealed just how dire the situation is for the almost 600 young people in custody. Several youth reported having to use water bottles as makeshift toilets on weekends because there is not enough staff to get them to the bathroom.
The Tribune tells the gutting story of a teen named Keith, whose isolation and desperation in custody led him to numerous attempts at self-harm, requiring hospitalization and surgery at least 12 times. His mother told reporters: “My phone rings and I’m terrified to answer because I’m afraid they’re going to tell me [Keith] didn’t make it this time.”
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