Current:Home > ContactKentucky juvenile facilities have issues with force, staffing, report says -TruePath Finance
Kentucky juvenile facilities have issues with force, staffing, report says
View
Date:2025-04-14 20:56:15
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s juvenile justice system has lingering problems with the use of force and isolation techniques and has done little to implement a 2017 state audit’s suggestions for improvement, according to a report released Wednesday.
The new report from Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball says the state’s juvenile detention centers lack clear policies concerning the use of isolation cells, Tasers and pepper spray, and have significant staffing problems. It also found that Department of Juvenile Justice staffers were using pepper spray at a rate nearly 74 times higher than it is used in adult federal prisons.
A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges that two teen girls were kept in isolation cells for weeks in unsanitary conditions at a youth facility in Adair County in 2022. That same year, the detention center was the site of a riot that began when a juvenile assaulted a staff member. Another federal lawsuit was filed this week by a woman who said that as a 17-year-old, she spent a month in an isolation cell at the Adair facility in 2022.
The auditor’s review was requested last year by state lawmakers.
“The state of the Department of Juvenile Justice has been a concern across the Commonwealth and a legislative priority over the past several years,” Ball said in a statement Wednesday.
Ball blamed Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration for “disorganization across facilities, and as a result, the unacceptably poor treatment of Kentucky youth.” Beshear earlier this month criticized a Kentucky House budget proposal for lacking funding for new female-only juvenile justice centers.
The auditor’s report, labeled a “performance assessment,” found that the Juvenile Justice department’s “practices for isolation are inconsistently defined, applied and in conflict with nationally-recognized best practices.” The department’s use of force policies are also “poorly deployed and defined,” it said.
The report said the findings from the 2017 audit have largely not been addressed, including concerns of overuse of solitary confinement, low medical care standards and the poor quality of the policy manual.
Beshear initiated a new state policy for juvenile offenders last year that places male juveniles charged with serious crimes in a high-security facility. The policy replaced a decades-old regional system that put juveniles in facilities based on where they live.
veryGood! (74162)
Related
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- Why the Paris Climate Agreement Might be Doomed to Fail
- Global Wildfire Activity to Surge in Coming Years
- After a Clash Over Costs and Carbon, a Minnesota Utility Wants to Step Back from Its Main Electricity Supplier
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Warming Trends: Telling Climate Stories Through the Courts, Icy Lakes Teeming with Life and Climate Change on the Self-Help Shelf
- The U.K. is the latest to ban TikTok on government phones because of security concerns
- In Baltimore, Helping Congregations Prepare for a Stormier Future
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- The Keystone XL Pipeline Is Dead, but TC Energy Still Owns Hundreds of Miles of Rights of Way
Ranking
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Janet Yellen says the federal government won't bail out Silicon Valley Bank
- Death of intellectually disabled inmate at Virginia prison drawing FBI scrutiny, document shows
- Turning Trash to Natural Gas: Utilities Fight for Their Future Amid Climate Change
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Startups 'on pins and needles' until their funds clear from Silicon Valley Bank
- Judge says he plans to sentence gynecologist who sexually abused patients to 20 years in prison
- BET Awards 2023: See Every Star on the Red Carpet
Recommendation
Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
Why the Paris Climate Agreement Might be Doomed to Fail
Honda recalls nearly 500,000 vehicles because front seat belts may not latch properly
Video: Carolina Tribe Fighting Big Poultry Joined Activists Pushing Administration to Act on Climate and Justice
Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
Climate Activists Target a Retrofitted ‘Peaker Plant’ in Queens, Decrying New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
New Florida Legislation Will Help the State Brace for Rising Sea Levels, but Doesn’t Address Its Underlying Cause
16 Michigan residents face felony charges for fake electors scheme after 2020 election