Federal officials: We may be investigating KY’s juvenile lockups for a year or more
The U.S. Department of Justice likely will spend more than a year investigating possible civil rights violations of youths held by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice before it publishes a report on its findings and takes final action, attorneys for the federal government said Monday.
A small team with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., held an online briefing Monday evening for families of youths held in the state’s eight juvenile detention centers and others who have an interest in the troubled facilities.
Several trial attorneys and an investigator have begun the process of requesting documents from the Department of Juvenile Justice and planning interviews and tours of the facilities, the federal officials said.
“There may be times where it feels as if we’re not moving quickly enough, given the harms that children might be experiencing. We will make every effort to conduct this investigation as quickly as we can,” Suraj Kumar, a Department of Justice attorney, said during Monday’s briefing.
“Thus far, the Kentucky DJJ has cooperated fully with our investigation,” Kumar added.
The Department of Justice announced May 15 that it will investigate Kentucky’s juvenile detention centers, as well as a youth development center that is attached to the juvenile detention center in Adair County.
Federal investigators will examine whether the facilities use excessive force and punitive isolation; if youths are adequately protected from violence and sexual abuse; and whether the commonwealth provides sufficient mental health care, education and services for children with disabilities.
If the Department of Justice finds systemic civil rights violations in the juvenile detention system, it can negotiate a settlement with the state of Kentucky to enact reforms, federal officials said.
If the state does not agree to negotiate, the Department of Justice can file a lawsuit to force the issue, the officials said.
Kentucky has been here before. The Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice was created in 1996 as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice after the previous hodgepodge of juvenile lockups, overseen by the state Cabinet for Human Resources, was discovered to be so bad that it violated youths’ civil rights.
The Lexington Herald-Leader has reported extensively for the past three years on chronic abuse and neglect of youths held in facilities operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice. Its coverage has examined the assaults, riots, escapes and other longstanding problems at the troubled agency.
Its reporting triggered an independent audit from state Auditor Allison Ball’s office that was ordered by Kentucky legislators in March 2023. Ball’s audit found that the Department of Juvenile Justice failed to comply with reforms called for in a 2017 inspection report, after a teen-aged girl died in one of its isolation cells.
“Careful reporting by news agencies along with advocates on behalf of organizations throughout Kentucky brought this matter to the attention of the Department of Justice,” Kumar said Monday.
A civil rights investigation focuses on whether systemic abuses have occurred, such as the repeated misuse of pepper spray or isolation cells in ways that violate youths’ constitutional rights, the federal officials said.
The Herald-Leader has reported that in some cases, teenagers have been held in isolation for extended periods because of under-staffing, not because they posed a safety risk. In other cases, employees have used excessive force on youths, including pepper spraying them in their cells as a form of punishment.
“Locking children up for even short periods of time, especially under harsh conditions, causes real harm. And it doesn’t have the promised rehabilitative impact,” Sophie Vick, an investigator with the Department of Justice, said during Monday’s briefing.
“We’re here today because the problems that have been reported are traumatic and may violate the law,” she said.
If the Civil Rights Division learns of possible criminal violations by people inside the facilities, those can be referred to federal prosecutors in Louisville and Lexington for further action, federal officials said.
The Department of Justice encourages anyone with information about civil rights violations inside Kentucky’s juvenile detention centers to call (888) 392-8241 or email Kentucky.Kids@usdoj.gov.
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