DJJ chief accused of incompetence, asked by lawmaker to resign during brutal hearing
After listening to hours of testimony Thursday from the state’s embattled Juvenile Justice director, one state senator accused the agency head of breaking the law by routinely failing to report the abuse and neglect of children in his care and requested a meeting with the governor to express his misgivings.
“If I was concerned before, I am shocked and amazed now,” Sen. Dick Harpootlian said after a tense 3 ½-hour hearing where a joint panel of lawmakers grilled DJJ Director Freddie Pough about a recent audit report that identified issues with the staffing, training and finances at the agency.
“I think I’d be failing the duty that we have to these children if I didn’t say this right now,” Harpootlian, D-Richland, told Pough. “I just don’t think you can do the job.”
Pough’s testimony comes six weeks after state auditors released a blistering 178-page report on his agency’s operations that Harpootlian has called a “damning indictment” of South Carolina’s juvenile justice system.
The DJJ director has acknowledged some issues raised in the audit, particularly the agency’s severe manpower shortage, but asserts that aspects of the report are inaccurate or misleading.
Thursday’s hearing marked the third time lawmakers have met to review and discuss the audit, but the first time Pough or any Juvenile Justice employee has testified.
Lawmakers heard previously from members of the Legislative Audit Council, a body that conducts independent audits of state agencies and reviewed DJJ’s operations in 2017 and again in 2019 at the request of the General Assembly.
After their first panel last month, a group of senators concerned with what they heard asked S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson to review the report and determine whether anyone at Juvenile Justice had broken the law.
Harpootlian on Thursday reiterated his belief that DJJ officials had committed crimes after Pough acknowledged under oath that he had failed to report incidents of child abuse and neglect at the agency’s facilities to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division or the Department of Social Services.
“Do you understand what you’re doing is a crime? Do you understand that?” the senator asked Pough.
“No, sir,” the director responded.
Harpootlian, who grew increasingly exasperated while questioning — and oftentimes talked over Pough — ultimately asked the director if he’d resign.
“You don’t know the law, you can’t tell me how many of the people you’re underpaying were beat up last week. ... I don’t understand why you’re head of this agency,” the senator seethed. “Would you consider resigning?”
“No, sir,” Pough answered.
The exchange between the men occurred after Pough explained that inspectors from his agency did not always contact outside agencies to report cases of child sexual assault, including a recent incident in which a DJJ employee is accused of sexual misconduct with a juvenile.
“Was SLED or DSS contacted? Was there any report made to them about this inappropriate sexual contact with a juvenile, a child?” Harpootlian asked the director.
When Pough answered that a report had not been made, the senator asked him if he’d intentionally failed to report the incident or just didn’t know he was required to file a report.
“The way I understand it is that we’re mandated reporters and that acts of that nature need to be investigated by law enforcement,” Pough responded. “And so the inspector general’s office, which is a law enforcement investigative arm of (DJJ), conducted those investigations for prosecution.”
Juvenile Justice workers are mandated reporters, by law, meaning they are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect. According to state statute, mandated reporters may report suspected abuse to the county department of social services or to a law enforcement agency in the county where the child lives or is found.
SLED is authorized to receive reports of abuse and neglect alleged to have occurred in any facility operated by the Departments of Juvenile Justice and Social Services, the statute states.
An individual who reports abuse within an agency like DJJ is not relieved from their duty to also report their reasonable suspicions to the appropriate law enforcement agency, according to the law.
“The duty to report is not superseded by an internal investigation within the institution, school, facility, or agency,” the statute says.
A mandated reported who fails to report their belief that a child has been or may be abused or neglected is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined up to $500 or imprisoned up to six months, or both.
After Pough told Harpootlian he had never personally reported the sexual assaults of any juveniles in the agency’s care to Social Services and didn’t know doing so was his duty, the senator, a former solicitor, said he’d prosecuted people for similar conduct.
“I am deeply disturbed by this testimony,” Harpootlian said. “He’s got custody of several hundred children and he doesn’t know he’s supposed to report this to DSS.”
Harpootlian asked Sen. Katrina Shealy, chairwoman of the subcommittee examining the DJJ audit, to inquire with the Attorney General or SLED about Pough’s admission, and to approach Gov. Henry McMaster about the panel’s concerns regarding his leadership of the agency.
“It seems everybody here is left woefully unconvinced that you can do the job,” he told Pough at the conclusion of the hearing.
DJJ spokesman Jarid Munsch said afterward that agency officials were reviewing the entirety of Thursday’s hearing, including Harpootlian’s comments, but could not provide an immediate response to his accusations.
A spokesman for McMaster, who has expressed confidence in Pough since the audit report’s release last month, released a statement following Thursday’s legislative hearing acknowledging that improvements needed to be made at the Juvenile Justice agency.
“Our criminal justice system, including DJJ, must make improvements to their training, policies and procedures,” spokesman Brian Symmes said in a statement. “Director Pough has a tough job leading an agency that has a long history of struggling with the difficult task of incarcerating and rehabilitating juveniles in trouble with the law. Governor McMaster will continue to work with the General Assembly to improve the agency, and more importantly, to keep juveniles from ending up at DJJ in the first place.”