TYC complaints missing in action

In this day and age, people just can't blame the computer for their problems. But that's just what the Texas Youth Commission has tried to do when attempts to check on hundreds of reports of abuse in the past 14 months found no evidence that anything had been done.

Will Harrell, the independent ombudsman for the TYC, last month issued a report stating that there was no record of more than 560 reports of physical and sexual abuse being investigated, much less resolved.

Commission officials said the information was missing because their case-tracking database wasn't set up to handle it, and that they had subsequently reviewed some 300 of the reports in question and found shown no problem with them.

That might or might not be true. Harrell questioned the quick review, saying he couldn't just take the TYC's word, given its past history of covering up reports of abuse.

And he shouldn't. His job is part of an effort to clean up the TYC after widespread abuse, negligence was found to have occurred and been covered up.

Of course, the West Texas State School at Pyote has been a central part of the statewide problems at TYC facilities.

Two former administrators at the Pyote facility, John Paul Hernandez and Ray Brookins, face criminal charges involving improper relations between an educator and a student and improper sexual activities with a person in question.

They are accused of sexually assaulting teenage boys imprisoned at the Pyote facility. They are awaiting trial and the public may learn more about this particular when testimony comes in open court.

But much of the other suspected abuse in facilities across the state remains cloaked in mystery, even after reporters found widespread abuse throughout the state's juvenile corrections system. A state investigation followed, heads rolled and reforms were promised. The current report raises concerns that those promises haven't been kept.

Blaming the computer database isn't acceptable, especially given the sensitive nature of the commission and the cases involved.

Computer failures, to be sure, are possible. For this very reason, however, users are constantly admonished to back up their data; many programs even create backups automatically.

For a state agency charged with the welfare and rehabilitation of minors to lack such redundancy and inability to simply copy the results would be the height of irresponsibility.

Each case should be tracked as it progresses. Results should both be compiled in general databases and sent individually to each case file, making retrieval of the information a simple matter of copying files.

Because the commission's 21 facilities house and care for teenagers and children, it is important to monitor and fully document their treatment. The youths represent various degrees of delinquency, and false allegations aren't uncommon. Unfortunately, the recent probes have found that many reports of physical and sexual abuse were substantiated. Full, unimpeachable and yes, redundant, documentation of every case is necessary, to protecting the inmates and their families, and also the commission that must be ready to defend its actions as well as defend itself against allegations of harm.
It's hard to adequately defend itself if its records keeping and retention is unreliable.

Clearly, the TYC still has a way to go before it thoroughly clears itself of suspicion regarding its treatment of its young charges. Full openness, built on reliable and redundant reporting systems, is necessary before the commission can even begin to rebuild public trust.