DALLAS — What is happening inside the Juvenile Detention Center in Dallas County? It depends on who you ask.
Former and current employees came to us with concerns and shared photos of the inside. A former employee sat down to talk with WFAA. He asked that we not identify him.
The pictures depict a facility in recent months that is filthy and unsanitary.
“There was trash piled up and they had gnats flying around,” the former employee said. “There were toilets clogged up... the mattresses were ripped, and blankets ripped. You know, it was pretty bad.”
He and others we spoke to say they are concerned about the living conditions and staffing shortages. Kids as young as 11 years old are inside the juvenile detention facility.
“The majority of the time, these kids are up, you know 3-4 days straight and it’s very very sad to see these kids being neglected like that,” the former employee said. “There’s days where they don’t even shower at times, just because there is no staff.”
Under state law, juveniles are supposed to have 10 hours of “function” time outside their cells, like going to school or doing activities.
But whistleblowers tell us that's not happening frequently. WFAA was provided documents that show that on a particular day, the juvenile inmates, who range in age from 11-18 years old, were out of their cells for only an hour or two, and they didn’t go to school. The reason given is not enough staff.
“They don’t make it an issue,” the former employee said. “They think it’s okay to have these kids living in these poor conditions.”
We shared the pictures with Judge Cheryl Shannon who is the presiding judge for Dallas County juvenile courts and leads the juvenile detention board that governs the facility.
She says she can’t confirm the pictures were taken inside the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center, but says she is often inside the facility and hasn’t seen anything like this.
“I just randomly went to some housing quarters and what I saw were things that were clean, clean showers,” Judge Cheryl Shannon said.
“We have county facilities that come in and clean,” she said. “So, if somebody took a photo of something that occurred at some point, is it possible? Yes. Did it stay like that? I doubt it."
She also disputes that juveniles are being held in their cells for days at a time.
“I can absolutely tell you that by and large there are not youth that are in there, if you want to call it a cell, in their sleeping quarters for days at a time without functioning activities,” the judge said.
Former and current employees also told us about how supervisors mistreat the juvenile suspects in the detention centers.
We took a look at one of those cases where documents show a juvenile in detention tried to commit suicide.
“What this juvenile did was, he began tying shirts and blankets around his neck in an attempt to self-harm himself,” the former employee said.
His mother, who didn’t go on camera, told us that her son has mental health issues. According to her and the whistleblower, the juvenile didn’t immediately get psychiatric help, which is standard protocol.
According to records, a supervisor told a jailer not to bother. ”It’s going to take 2 days to get psych to see him,” according to a witness statement.
“He didn’t even go down to medical," the former employee said. "He was never medically cleared."
Judge Shannon told WFAA that inmates should and do receive proper care when suffering a mental health crisis.
“If they have hurt themselves in some way, we’re going to get them out of here to get medical treatment so I absolutely will look into that situation,” Judge Shannon said.
Some county commissioners and the Dallas County District Attorney have been at odds with the director of the Juvenile Detention Department, Darryl Beatty, and Judge Shannon. Dallas County has been looking into juvenile care at the detention centers but can’t get records from the juvenile board, which is fighting the request in court.
“Juvenile definitely needs to be revamped,” said Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman. "We need to have someone in there who does an independent study of the entire juvenile department from top to bottom to figure out where we’re doing things right and where we are doing things wrong. Transparency is key."
Sommerman and District Attorney John Creuzot believe that what is happening – or not happening – inside the facility is keeping the county from focusing on rehabilitation.
Creuzot says kids who are not getting proper treatment, programs or education will be in and out of jail.
“If we are watching a system where they’re in and out and in and out and getting worse and worse, then we all have a responsibility to create a better system,” Creuzot said.
Creuzot and Sommerman have also asked for information on what rehabilitative programs, like drug counseling and mental health services, juveniles are going through. Sommerman said the county spends hundreds of thousands of dollars funding programs every year but cannot get information on how that money is spent because the department is run by its own board. Sommerman said he and others have resorted to asking individual vendors and providers for records on the programs.
“Some of these programs are not being used at all, while others are working effectively,” Sommerman said. “We have to examine each one of these programs separately and make sure that we only find those that are working.”
“There is a strong suggestion that whatever programs these kids are going through, they weren’t working,” Creuzot said.
Judge Shannon acknowledged that some of the outside programs may not be used all the time because the juvenile department has their own internal programs they use first.
“There are some youth that, I don’t care what the intervention is, it may not be impactful,” the judge said. “I don’t think it’s a majority of the youth that we serve.”
“I think we’re setting ourselves up for continued failure, continued recidivism,” Creuzot said.
We asked Darryl Beatty for an on-camera interview, but he declined.
The Texas Juvenile Justice Department is investigating the Dallas County juvenile system. A report is expected to come out in June.