BALTIMORE- Maryland: Report: Youth offender facilities unclean

Report: Youth offender facilities unclean

Sep 17, 2007 3:00 AM (1 day ago)
by Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/a-938860~Rep...unclean.h tml

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Maryland taxpayers fork over millions of dollars
to house the state’s troubled youth, but a new report shows juvenile
offenders live in facilities plagued by insects, rodents, moldy showers,
worn-out bathrooms and leaky ceilings.

“We believe these conditions result from many years of severe neglect by
the state of Maryland, the public’s ignorance of these conditions, and
the ‘forgotten’ status to which we relegate children who have broken the
law,� according to a recent report from the attorney general’s Juvenile
Justice Monitoring Unit highlighting the 12 worst facilities.

Youth at the Cheltenham Youth Facility in Cheltenham are housed in “old,
dilapidated cottages� with heavy steel, prison-style doors and small,
high-placed windows clouded with age.

The facility also suffers from insect and rat infestations.



At the state’s facility for girls, the Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s
Center in Laurel, youth often urinate and defecate on themselves,
because their cells do not have toilets and they can’t wait any longer
for someone to let them out.

The bathroom leaked so much at the Maryland Youth Residence
Center/William Donald Schaefer House in Baltimore City that the ceiling
collapsed on the dining hall.

The Thomas O’Farrell Youth Center in Marriottsville lacks air
conditioning in one of the living units and uses tape on windows for
insulation.

At J. DeWeese Carter Children’s Center in Chestertown, youth sleep on
the floor in mattresses cradled in plastic containers called “boats.�

The centers are unsafe, ineffective for rehabilitating youth and
expensive, said Linda Heisner, deputy director for the nonprofit
Advocates for Children and Youth.

Every year, it costs between $50,000 and $60,000 for each child, eating
up the majority of the Department of Juvenile Services’ $200 million budget.

Community-based services, which youth attend while living at home, cost
$8,000 to $9,000 per child, Heisner said.

Such a program will launch this year in Baltimore County, Juvenile
Services spokeswoman Tammy Brown said.

Juvenile Services Secretary Donald DeVore has approved a $600,000
project to renovate Waxter’s bathrooms to improve safety and privacy.

“We don’t have the funding to make all the improvements that need to be
done because they have been ignored for so long,� Brown said.

The deficiencies persist because new administrations take office every
four years, said Marlana Valdez, director of the monitoring unit.











CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...