SC juvenile jail didn’t report deaths, not prepared for riots, report says

South Carolina’s juvenile jail is unprepared to respond to riots, has poorly trained correctional officers and ineffective police and does not comply with standards meant to prevent rape, a new state report says.

The S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice also failed to report the deaths of two juveniles, according to a harshly critical report released Thursday by the state’s Legislative Audit Council. Those deaths should have been reported to the S.C. Department of Corrections.

The report was discussed at length before a House Oversight panel for nearly five hours on Thursday. Several legislators expressed frustration with the audit’s findings.

“We are just failing these kids,” said Rep. Katie Arrington, R-Dorchester, a first-year legislator. “We had a kid die. We’re failing. ... These are lives. These are children. Do you really need an internal team to tell you that there are issues?”

Agency officials told members of the panel that one death was a suicide, while the other was found by the coroner to be a natural death. But the report said DJJ did not properly investigate claims that the natural death was the result of foul play.

The suicide took place in the detention center in Columbia in 2014, while the death happened in 2015 at Camp Sand Hills, a wilderness camp the agency uses in Chesterfield County.

Chairman of the panel, Rep. Eddie Tallon, R-Spartanburg, said that after learning of the lack of reporting, he would be introducing legislation to require DJJ report all deaths – no matter where they happen – to the State Law Enforcement Division.

Among other issues the audit found: DJJ also could not prove that counselors at wilderness camps have the proper credentials required by state law.

Additionally, the agency needs to better train its correctional officers, and its police force is “ineffective and unnecessary,” the audit report says.

Fewer than a third of DJJ correctional officers – 23 out of 81 – have been certified by the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy, and DJJ’s training curriculum has not been approved by the state Criminal Justice Academy as state law requires, according to the report.

“DJJ’s security policies and procedures are outdated and need to be revised,” the report says. Additionally, “many employees do not feel that recent changes have markedly increased the safety and security at the Broad River Road Complex.”

That Columbia complex houses youth from around South Carolina who have been ordered incarcerated by a judge and operates a school there; girls are held on an adjacent but separate campus from the boys.

Patrick Montgomery, a spokesman for DJJ, said the report unfairly depicts the agency, adding there has not been a “major disruption” since a Feb. 26, 2016, riot.

“Of the 111 recommendations that were put forth to DJJ, over 75 percent of those recommendations have already been instilled into our day-to-day operations,” Montgomery said. Those changes include installing tamper-proof and shatter-proof glass in all dormitories, a “special response team” to respond immediately to incidents and fully staffing the boys department to respond to disruptions using pepper spray.

“Our staff feels safer. Our juveniles are safer,” he said. “Any media or public official that would go out to DJJ and see the changes made would, for themselves, see how accurate we are when we say that we are changing and we are a place of hope.”

The riot at the Broad River Road facility exposed gaping holes in DJJ’s security at the time, including having no police chief, gang intervention specialist or rapid-response emergency team on staff at the time.

Auditors launched the review of DJJ, at the request of legislators, after concerns were raised about safety and financial issues at the agency and whether DJJ is meeting its mission for juveniles in its custody. Thursday’s report details the findings of the investigation.

The LAC considers this an abbreviated report, saying DJJ could not provide much of the information it was asked for, including statistics on juvenile escapes. But DJJ Director Sylvia Murray told the panel of legislators that 31 of the 74 recommendations made by the audit had been accomplished.

In addition to poorly trained officers, DJJ does not comply with the Federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and does not have an adequate plan to become compliant, the report says.

DJJ also “could not explain or document its methodology” behind its $4.3 million request for funding from the state government to become compliant with the rape elimination act, according to the report.

The agency is also unable to analyze turnover among officers, because of inconsistencies in its data, the report said. In fiscal year 2014-15, 320 employees left the agency. At $27,947, DJJ’s correctional officers are among the lowest paid in the state.

Further, the report says that DJJ case managers do not meet standards for supervising juveniles they are responsible for.

DJJ also does not take full advantage of video conferencing during parole hearings to reduce security risks and costs that come with transporting juveniles to and from hearings, the report says.

In an attempt to save money, the report found, DJJ also implemented a retirement incentive program and a voluntary separation program in 2015 that resulted in the loss of older and experienced correctional officers. But the audit found the move did not bring significant savings and actually jeopardized security.

Rep. Bill Hixon, R-Aiken, said during the meeting he would be reaching out to new Gov. Henry McMaster to ensure DJJ is looked at. He later added he plans to share the report with McMaster.

“I didn’t realize all the things that were going in our state agency, and to read that, it was very sad, especially the loss of the lives that we had out there,” Hixon said. “I look forward to Gov. McMaster speaking to them and helping them.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 11:39 AM with the headline "SC juvenile jail didn’t report deaths, not prepared for riots, report says."