Albany, NY — The Paterson administration has proposed reforming New York’s system for housing juvenile offenders with a new oversight office and tighter restrictions on who can be incarcerated. The proposals come as two investigations continue into allegations that a dance last year at a Hudson Valley detention center turned into a sex party. Some Republican senators are calling for...
Albany, NY — The Paterson administration has proposed reforming New York’s system for housing juvenile offenders with a new oversight office and tighter restrictions on who can be incarcerated.
The proposals come as two investigations continue into allegations that a dance last year at a Hudson Valley detention center turned into a sex party.
Some Republican senators are calling for Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion to resign, saying she hasn’t been tough enough. But Gov. David Paterson said she’s doing a good job.
Carrion has emphasized a “therapeutic” model and putting juveniles in programs at home instead of residential detention centers. She has also begun closing some of those institutions and cutting related jobs.
Meanwhile, U.S. Justice Department officials are reviewing the state’s response to a federal investigation last year that found staff at four facilities caused serious injuries, including broken bones, when they routinely used force as a primary way to restrain juveniles, not just as a last resort.
The Legal Aid Society of New York later sued OCFS in federal court, seeking better treatment of mental health problems common among the youths in state detention and a ban on physical restraints. The organization said retraining staff and Carrion’s revised restraint policy were not enough.
The agency reported there were 740 juveniles in two dozen detention centers at the end of May, with 238 vacancies, with judges now sending fewer offenders to so-called youth prisons.
Based on his own task force report, Paterson last week proposed legislation that would establish the Independent Office of the Juvenile Justice Advocate within a separate agency, the Division of Criminal Justice Services. It would have subpoena power, review complaints, conduct inspections and independent investigations and report to the
governor and lawmakers on systemic problems.
“We have a responsibility to provide the highest level of care to the children in the custody of the state,” he said.
The bill says only youths convicted of violent felonies or sex offenses and those found by a judge to significantly threaten public safety would be confined. Current law requires judges to send them to “the least restrictive setting available which is consistent with the needs and best interests” of both the juvenile and community.
Carrion called the legislation “another important step in the ongoing transformation of New York State’s juvenile justice system.”
OCFS and the state Commission of Correction are each looking into a December dance party at the detention center in Goshen, which was supposed to be supervised and held as an incentive for good behavior. Each agency is expected to report their findings in the next few weeks.
An aide from the center said he had been sent on overtime to drive to Albany and pick up two young women to attend the dance. He said that one was apparently 15 and the other said she had been sent money, leading to suspicion she was a prostitute. A surveillance video later showed a lap dance and some other possible sex acts.
Sen. Catharine Young, a Jamestown Republican, said she paid an unannounced visit last summer to a dance at a detention center in Columbia County and questioned whether they were appropriate.
She said she will hold a hearing as chair of the Special Legislative Task Force on Reform of the New York State Juvenile Justice System. She and Sen. Martin Golden, a Brooklyn Republican, both said the state needs to replace Carrion with a new commissioner who will take responsibility for some of New York’s most hardened juvenile criminals.
“It is shocking and outrageous that teenage girls are being escorted at the taxpayers’ expense into youth prisons,” Young said. She said lenient policies have also led to staff injuries. “Under Commissioner Carrion’s direction, the entire juvenile justice system is spinning out of control.”
Paterson disagreed and defended Carrion. “I think she’s actually done an excellent job,” he said.