A culture of violence and rampant sexual activity at the Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility put hundreds of youths in harm's way, the U.S. Department of Justice says. A Justice probe of three juvenile facilities in Indiana found sweeping problems, from youth-on-youth violence to excessive use of force by staff.
The federal agency could sue to force reforms, but it is considered more likely it will reach an agreement with the state for corrective action. In a letter sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels last month, justice officials wrote that the sexual activity at Plainfield revealed in 2004 inspections included predatory behavior by older boys against younger offenders.
The Plainfield center houses male juveniles mainly from 12 to 18. Most youths who have committed sexual offenses are sent to Plainfield.
Outright physical assaults among youths were commonplace, the letter said.
"Moreover, these assaults frequently occur without intervention -- or even awareness -- by staff." Justice cited understaffing as a main reason violence went undetected.
Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue called Justice's findings unsettling and vowed to cooperate with the agency's inquiry.
Donahue, who took office in January, said that even before Justice released its findings, he made reforms at Indiana's juvenile correctional facilities. Among these, he said, were separating the oldest offenders from the youngest and installing more surveillance cameras in some facilities.
The Plainfield center soon will be converted into an adult offender re-entry facility. While the offender population was 300 at the time of the inspections in June and July of last year, 41 boys are there now. The Justice Department also criticized the South Bend Juvenile Correction Facility, which houses 118 boys, and the Logansport Juvenile Intake/Diagnostic Facility, which holds 15.
Ken Falk, legal director for the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, called Justice's findings devastating. The ICLU filed suit against the state in the early 1990s to spur reforms at the Plainfield center, then called the Indiana Boys School. The consent decree that followed was lifted in August when it was thought the issues had been addressed.
Falk was surprised to learn of the Justice findings, which he said "disclose a consistent pattern of unconstitutional behavior . . . which we should not tolerate anywhere."
Justice found "overt sexual activity" among the youths in dormitories, day rooms, bathrooms, shower areas, "and even in the campus security van."
An April 2004 incident report describes a series of sexual incidents involving more than 20 youths over several months. So pervasive was the activity of these individuals that the report included a flow chart identifying each youth and the specific sexual acts performed. Investigators also reported disturbing consistency in the youths' accounts of unnecessary physical restraint and excessive force by staff at Plainfield. Offenders described cases in which staff slammed youths into walls or onto the floor for minor rule violations, sometimes after the youths had been handcuffed. There were other reports of staff provoking a resident to justify using force on him.
As with the Plainfield center, the South Bend grievance system was criticized as inadequate. In some cases, investigators reported, substantive allegations of mistreatment made by youths were ignored. At the Logansport Juvenile Intake/Diagnostic Facility, inspectors found deficiencies in health assessment services. The screening process reportedly failed to identify youths with hidden symptoms, such as those with depression who were not actively suicidal.