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| No charges in Ga. youth prison probe |
| By Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
| Published: 10/21/2003 |
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State lawyers closed a criminal investigation Monday into allegations that employees of an Augusta, Ga. facility had engaged in sex with and given drugs to juvenile offenders. Assistant Attorney General David McLaughlin wrote in a memo that the state investigation did not indicate a "prosecutable criminal case." The state's attorneys said they faced a problem winning convictions because some of the boys were willing participants and because a jury might not find them credible witnesses. Russ Willard, spokesman for Attorney General Thurbert Baker, said there was "nothing criminal that we felt could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in court." The most common problem found at the Augusta YDC was that employees had given cigarettes to the boys and that the youths had gained access to pornography. The case was sent back to the state Department of Juvenile Justice for disciplinary action against those who might have violated the agency's policies. But allegations of criminal behavior were the reasons that Orlando Martinez, then the commissioner of the Department of Juvenile Justice, cited in firing state workers and hiring Unique Solutions, a private company, for $6.5 million to run the Augusta YDC for six months until a permanent contract could be awarded. In announcing those changes at the 300-bed institution, Martinez guaranteed that criminal indictments would be coming out of the state investigation. Members of the Augusta legislative delegation, including Republican state Sen. Don Cheeks, have been vocal critics of the decision to privatize. Martinez, now a consultant, left the Juvenile Justice position in August when Gov. Sonny Perdue accepted his resignation. Soon after taking over as governor in January, Perdue requested the resignations of all state agency heads. In late June, Martinez stunned state workers and Augusta area legislators by announcing that the entire work force would be replaced. |
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