Dallas juvenile detention center isolated children and falsified documents, state investigation says – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An investigation by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department has found that officers at a Dallas juvenile detention center kept children isolated for days at a time and falsified logs of observation checks and school attendance.

According to state investigators, employees at the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center, located within the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center, used the Special Needs Unit to circumvent state law and hold minors in their sleeping quarters for extended periods of time.

“They spent the vast majority of their days in their cells, sometimes as long as 24 hours a day, without regular access to education, vigorous exercise, outdoor recreation or showers,” state inspectors wrote in a report released Monday.

The full study was not made public, but TJJD did provide a summary of the research.

The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said it will continue to monitor the situation. A division of the agency will also continue to have oversight duties and responsibilities related to allegations of misconduct at Dallas County juvenile detention facilities. The detention center’s director did not respond to requests for comment.

Agents also falsified documents intended to document observation checks and school attendance to conceal actual practices at the detention facility, the investigation found. OIG investigators collected more than 18,000 pages of observation checks from January 2023 through June 2023. However, 176 of the 191 observation forms were missing for multiple dates and services.

“In some cases, inspectors found that all logbooks for a particular section and shift contained the exact same times and observation codes for every juvenile resident on the section,” the report found.

Other allegations reported and investigated by OIG include children not being given adequate food and phone and visitation privileges being revoked due to behavioral issues. However, the investigation could not determine whether these allegations were true or false.

The Special Needs Unit was established in 2009 to serve children diagnosed with mental health conditions who are also on probation. The program closed in 2023, the same year the OIG investigation took place, but the exact reasons for the closure are unknown.

This week’s report comes after the U.S. Department of Justice last month found unconstitutional conditions at all five juvenile detention centers in Texas. They noted abuse and poor conditions and cited many corrective measures, including limiting isolation periods. Investigators found other abuses, including the use of pepper spray on children and a failure to implement measures to reduce sexual abuse.

According to the state report, the former director of the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center, Darryl Beatty, should have known what was going on inside the unit for children with special needs.

“While he may not have played an active role in creating the policies and procedures that allowed for neglect of juvenile residents, he had ample opportunity to take corrective action,” the OIG report said.

Beatty denied the allegations earlier this year, but resigned after media reports emerged about conditions at the juvenile detention center.

Barbara Kessler, spokesperson for TJJD, said Dallas authorities are taking corrective action and the state’s investigation is now complete.

“Detectives continue to closely monitor the situation and may initiate new investigations into abuse, neglect or exploitation if necessary,” Kessler wrote in an email.

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.