Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Feds To Watch Over Indiana's Juvenile Correction Facilities

A U.S. Department of Justice investigation "found a culture of violence and rampant sexual activity that put hundreds of youths in harm’s way" at three Indiana juvenile correction facilities, including the former Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility, the South Bend Juvenile Correctional Facility and the Logansport Juvenile Intake/Diagnostic Center.

According to a Star report, the Indiana Department of Corrections has entered into an agreement with the Justice Department to fix "sweeping problems" under the supervision of the federal government. “Indiana Department of Correction is dedicated to providing the best of care in all of our facilities across the board,” Commissioner J. David Donahue said. “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of compliance with the agreement.”

To be fair to the current administration, these problems were discovered in 2004 under then-Gov. Joe Kernan. The Department indicates it has already implemented several changes, including separating the oldest and youngest offenders, installing more surveillance cameras and revised use-of-force protocols.

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