Texas Youth Commission
In 1957 the state reorganized the agencies, placing the juvenile corrections system and homes for dependent and neglected children into the Texas Youth Council.
[4] On June 3, 2011, the TYC announced that it was closing three facilities by August 31, 2011, affecting 700 employees and 400 prisoners, due to state budget cuts.
[11] Following an investigation by the Texas Rangers and the FBI in February and March 2005, two of the highest-ranking officials at the school, assistant superintendent Ray Brookins and principal John Paul Hernandez had been accused of having sexual relations with several students over an extended period.
[16] TYC Inspector General Ray Worsham was later implicated in the alteration of the misconduct investigations report.
[19][20] The ACLU charged that girls were "regularly placed in punitive solitary confinement," that "[u]pon entering or exiting solitary confinement and on other occasions when they have not left the facility - for example, when they finish a work assignment within the prison - girls are subject to invasive strip searches.
[21] In an official press release, Conservator Nedelkoff responded to the lawsuit saying he was "disappointed" and that he "look[s] forward to working with the ACLU, along with our Texas advocacy partners, to address all concerns mentioned in this lawsuit," and Ombudsman Will Harrell stated that he was also "disappointed" and that "most of the allegations mentioned are being addressed.
"[22] Deputy Commissioner for Programs and Treatment Dianne Gadow, ultimately responsible for Youth Rights,[23] made no comment on the matter.
[27] Upon admittance to the TYC system, offenders undergo orientation and are placed in assessment units before being sent to their final assignments.
[33] TYC offenders may use the internet while working on certain projects for school; they are never allowed to access e-mail accounts and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
[35] As of 2010 of the children with known citizenships who were in secure facilities, in halfway houses, in contract programs, and on parole, 3,925 (93.68%) were Citizens of the United States.
Other countries represented included Australia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
[37] Institutions: Halfway houses: In 1974 federal judge William Wayne Justice ruled on Morales v. Turman.
[49][50] The West Texas State School and the Victory Field Correctional Academy in unincorporated Wilbarger County will officially close by August 31, 2010.
[28] The following former TYC facilities were transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ): The Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, located in unincorporated Coke County, south of Bronte,[39] was a 200-bed secure facility operated by the GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corp.) and contracted by the TYC.
[56] In 2006, 19-year-old Robert Schulze, an inmate incarcerated at Coke who had earlier said that he felt unsafe at the facility, hanged himself in his cell.
