By Ted Clifford
The State
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A report from a state oversight agency has laid bare the ongoing challenges at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice as the agency has struggled to turn itself around following a series of scathing audits.
The report, conducted by the Legislative Audit Council, an independent body of the state General Assembly, was released earlier in December. It was a follow-up to a 2021 audit that found significant failures that threatened the safety and well-being of children and staff.
Of the 101 recommendations made in 2021, just over half have been implemented, according to the audit of the department, which is responsible for housing and providing services for juvenile offenders up to the age of 18.
It is a significant setback for the agency that has attempted to turn itself around under new leadership while struggling against old problems of under funding, overcrowding, lack of staff and a Raise the Age law, which has increased demands placed on the agency by raising the age of juvenile offenders from 17 to 18.
“When the state passed raise the age and didn’t secure extra funding, it really put a lot more on DJJ,” said State Senator Tameika Isaac Devine, D- Richland. The agency is “at its breaking point.”
The Department of Juvenile Justice did not respond to a request for a comment.
The audit’s findings are stark. Between October 2023 and February 2024, juvenile corrections officer vacancies increased from 15% to 39%. Of the 118 officers hired and trained by DJJ in 2023, 79% had left by August of this year, averaging just three months, according to the audit.
DJJ staff confirmed to auditors that juveniles were not being transported to receive medical care that they need outside of the facility. The agency does not have a transportation plan in place and has not updated their policies since the 2021 report, according to the audit.
The agency has also struggled to pay its bills on time, an issue highlighed in the 2021 audit, leading to some medical providers discontinuing treatment for juvenile inmates.
Many of the agency’s key policies in a moment of flux.
On June 30, DJJ ended its use of Performance Based Standards, a national data collection program implemented by DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. While the agency is in the process of developing their own data collection process, it was not in place at the time when they stopped using the justice department’s standard.
Policies for mental health treatment are also in the process of being revised, along with 20 policies related to or mandated by the Justice Department settlement, including the use of force and restraints, camera surveillance, placing juveniles in isolation, internal investigations and DJJ’s special response team. Of the nine security-related policies, just five have been finalized, according to the audit.
In the video below, Gordon Graham discusses the isolation of juvenile offenders and the importance of having a solid policy to guide correctional efforts.
“We could have a large disaster on our hands if we don’t address these issues,” Devine said.
Hope for a legislative solution
Since the 2021 audit, the Department of Juvenile Justice, which is responsible for the custody of the state’s juvenile offenders, has been beset by a slew of high profile issues.
In 2022, DJJ entered into an agreement with the United States Department of Justice over claims that the state agency failed to protect children at the Broad River Road Complex from harm by staff and other children as well as the use of prolonged isolation as punishment.
In May of 2022, a 13 year-old girl was able to bring a loaded gun into the facility, leading to the suspension of one staff member and two Columbia Police Department officers. Last December, 16 year-old Easley Jeffcoat died in a Columbia hospital after attempting to take his own life inside of the department’s primary facility on Broad River Road . Earlier this year, a juvenile corrections officer was arrested after he allegedly pushed and choked a teen inmate. This followed a series of arrests of staff members the previous year for inappropriate behavior, including providing teen inmates with vape pens.
It’s not uncommon for children to be sleeping on pallets on the floor, or having young offenders charged with crime like truancy housed in the same cells as juveniles charged with crimes like murder, Devine said.
But while the audit found significant shortcomings, it also noted that improvements had been made it key areas. The agency has spent $7 million on installing 1,197 cameras throughout five facilities.
The agency and Director Eden Hendricks are doing “all they can,” Devine said, but they remain hamstrung by a lack of funding.
Devine has prefiled a bill in the South Carolina senate to address many of the issues faced by DJJ. She said that she hopes the Juvenile Justice Reform Act can be a bipartisan effort to provide much needed funding for the agency and reduce issues of overcrowding by lowering the number of juveniles who are incarcerated for “status offenses” like truancy or “incorrigibility.”
“If you were an adult, that would not be a crime,” Devine said.
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