I lied
It's not good news for this post.
I read the article and ran the numbers and it seems like one in nine inmates in Texas Youth detention centers is being/has been sexually abused by adult staff of the centers. Apparently, a Texas Ranger told the TYC (Texas Youth Commission) about an incident related to this two years ago, and nothing was done about it.
Here is the Texas Observer's take on the original case. P.S. Love the Texas Observer.
From the first story, I particularly enjoyed this quote:
"I'd like to assure everyone that the board is very, very interested in a new direction" for the Youth Commission, Bethel said.
Oh my god. A new direction. I'm assuming he means a direction other than widescale sexual abuse and cover-ups? Which would be a good thing, all around. Also note that in arriving at the one in nine figure, I went with the reported cases, rather than the confirmed cases. I did this because the numbers in the article are taken from TYC's investigation of itself. So, not only am I assuming that all the reported cases are true, but my guess is that this thing is far more widespread than these numbers are letting on.
Apparently, this week, the Texas Legislature voted "no confidence" in the TYC board, and several facilities have been taken over by the Rangers. I am shocked this isn't being more widely reported. I heard it on NPR, then did some digging to get these stories, but when I did a search on Yahoo news, I found two AP wire reports done by Yahoo News, but otherwise the stories seem to be all local Texas news channels. (More digging revealed a story from The Washington Times, one from the Boston Globe, and Dallas Morning News)
The NPR news story on this said that since the Legislature has begun to investigate the report, more accusations have arrisen daily. So, I don't expect that is the last of it.
I read the article and ran the numbers and it seems like one in nine inmates in Texas Youth detention centers is being/has been sexually abused by adult staff of the centers. Apparently, a Texas Ranger told the TYC (Texas Youth Commission) about an incident related to this two years ago, and nothing was done about it.
Here is the Texas Observer's take on the original case. P.S. Love the Texas Observer.
From the first story, I particularly enjoyed this quote:
"I'd like to assure everyone that the board is very, very interested in a new direction" for the Youth Commission, Bethel said.
Oh my god. A new direction. I'm assuming he means a direction other than widescale sexual abuse and cover-ups? Which would be a good thing, all around. Also note that in arriving at the one in nine figure, I went with the reported cases, rather than the confirmed cases. I did this because the numbers in the article are taken from TYC's investigation of itself. So, not only am I assuming that all the reported cases are true, but my guess is that this thing is far more widespread than these numbers are letting on.
Apparently, this week, the Texas Legislature voted "no confidence" in the TYC board, and several facilities have been taken over by the Rangers. I am shocked this isn't being more widely reported. I heard it on NPR, then did some digging to get these stories, but when I did a search on Yahoo news, I found two AP wire reports done by Yahoo News, but otherwise the stories seem to be all local Texas news channels. (More digging revealed a story from The Washington Times, one from the Boston Globe, and Dallas Morning News)
The NPR news story on this said that since the Legislature has begun to investigate the report, more accusations have arrisen daily. So, I don't expect that is the last of it.