Texas's juvenile prison agency ignored two decades of warnings while staff kept sexually abusing children in its lockups, the Justice Department found
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In an August 1, 2024 findings report under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, the U.S. Justice Department concluded it had reasonable cause to believe the Texas Juvenile Justice Department violates children's constitutional rights in its five secure facilities, including by failing to protect them from sexual abuse by staff and other children. DOJ's review of hundreds of the agency's own Office of Inspector General investigation reports found 'a pervasive atmosphere of sexual abuse, grooming, and lack of staff accountability', and an internal audit found 63 percent of staff checked had turned off their body-worn cameras while supervising children. DOJ said TJJD had ample notice over two decades, including a 2007 conservatorship, Texas Rangers investigations ordered in 2017 and 2021, and a 2019 federal survey showing some of the nation's highest youth sexual-victimization rates at three TJJD facilities, and that TJJD's response to the 2021 Rangers probe ignored obvious problems with training, oversight, supervision and accountability.
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