Young DJJ adult “Steven H.” must stay at Richland County adult jail

A circuit court judge ruled late Friday that the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice could keep an 18-year-old inmate, identified only as “Steven H.,” at the Richland County jail for adult offenders.

In his ruling, which came after four hours of testimony and lawyers’ arguments, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that no one had shown that “irreparable harm” had been done to Stephen H. by his staying on at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

The ruling was a blow to the Richland County Public Defender’s office, which had sought to convince Newman to grant a legal order called an injunction against DJJ that would stop that state agency from transferring a youthful offender at DJJ to an adult detention center.

In March, following numerous incidents of sporadic and dangerous riots at DJJ’s main campus on Broad River Road, DJJ transferred Steven H. and nine other youthful inmates it characterized as particularly dangerous to themselves, staff and other young inmates to Alvin S. Glenn. DJJ charged them with crimes as adults and characterized them as ringleaders.

Unaddressed during Friday’s hearing at the Richland County courthouse were major systemic problems at DJJ depicted in an S.C. Inspector General’s report released this week and characterized as an almost total breakdown in discipline caused by a lack of staff, proper staff training and inadequate equipment and facilities at DJJ’s main campus on Broad River Road.

Such an atmosphere – where young offenders could run in gangs, assault officers, start fires, escape, enter female inmates’ dorms and carry out at least one alleged sexual assault – is not a textbook environment for rehabilitating youthful offenders.

DJJ officers “are not even provided methods for gaining control of these juveniles,” Inspector General Patrick Maley told an S.C. House Oversight Committee on Thursday.

During Friday’s hearing, Steven H. was described as having severe emotional, discipline and psychiatric problems. He was in the courtroom but did not testify.

Instead of delving into DJJ’s failures, Newman on Friday was narrowly focused on how much harm was being done to Stephen H. by being held at the adult jail.

In summarizing his decision, Newman agreed with DJJ’s privately retained lawyer, Patrick Frawley of Lexington, that Steven H. had an escalating history of assaulting guards and vandalizing property that made him a decided menace to himself, staff and other young inmates.

“These are not minor transgressions,” Frawley had told Newman, adding that Steven H. had had numerous chances to reform but had not taken them.

Agreeing with Frawley, Newman found that Steven H. is “defiant, difficult and for the most part uncontrollable” and poses a danger to staff and other inmates.

Complicating the issue is that Steven H., who was first sent to DJJ at the age of 14, has just turned 18. Juveniles can stay at DJJ until they turn 21. Steven H. was 17, so no longer a juvenile, when his latest offenses were committed and DJJ decided to move him to Richland County’s jail until he is tried on the riot-related charges.

The adult charges that landed Steven H. at Alvin S. Glenn in March included arson and malicious damage to property over $10,000.

Arguing to transfer Steven H. back to DJJ, assistant Public Defender Constantine “Dino” Pournaras told Newman that the young adult was being harmed irreparably because at Alvin S. Glenn, he doesn’t have access to the psychiatrist, the psychologist, the teacher and others who work with him to try to teach him ways of coping, dealing with anger issues and getting along with others.

Steven H. will be under DJJ’s jurisdiction only until he is 21, and so he only has a very limited window of time to take advantage of the rehabilitative opportunities offered at the agency’s main campus, Pournaras said.

Frawley said the great irony of Steven H.’s situation is that despite all his problems, he has great potential.

“His social worker has said he’s a young man who is highly intelligent,” Frawley said.

“He is articulate, he’s probably a born leader – which is a dangerous thing when you’ve got juveniles in there who are getting loose. He’s got the tools to get better, but he’s not using the tools we’ve provided him up to this point.”

Although Newman denied the public defender’s request to send Steven H. back to DJJ, a lawsuit by the public defender’s office against DJJ will continue.

That lawsuit alleges that DJJ has no legal authority to transfer youths under its jurisdiction to adult facilities. DJJ should house such difficult youths at its own facility, or at a special youth facility at the S.C. Department of Corrections, according to the Public Defender.