There have been numerous complaints from juveniles, their parents, staff, and county commissioners.
DALLAS — WFAA has been reporting on the issues at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center and now we have exclusive information on what criminal investigators found.
WFAA has obtained the full Office of Inspector General report detailing potential crimes by staff.
The allegations range from teachers and staff falsifying reports to not reporting abuse allegations made by juveniles being held in the facility and juveniles being held in seclusion for days.
People have been fired, the two top officials have resigned and a criminal investigation continues. Meanwhile, the head of the juvenile board is defending her actions while all of this was happening under the noses of the board.
Since May, WFAA has been reporting about unsanitary conditions and juveniles being secluded for long periods of time without getting out of their jail cells at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center. There have been numerous complaints from juveniles, their parents, staff, and county commissioners.
“I made it clear that kids were being held in isolation we had proceedings in front of the commissioner’s court again and again that this is happening,” said Andy Sommerman, Dallas County Commissioner.
A whistleblower told WFAA that staff and teachers were falsifying documents to show juveniles were getting out of their cells for function time including going to class and for recreation when in fact that wasn’t happening.
“The majority of the time these kids are up, you know for 3 or 4 days straight. And it’s very very sad to see these kids being neglected like that, you know there’s days where they don’t even shower at times, just because there’s no staff,” said a whistleblower.
WFAA asked Judge Cheryl Shannon who heads the juvenile board that governs the detention center about the concerns back in May.
“I can tell you that I am seeing youth moving in and out of their sleeping quarters for hours in a day, they are getting their showers, functioning time and include their showers and they are getting an education,” Judge Cheryl Shannon, Dallas County Juvenile Board.
But a 100-page report released in October and obtained exclusively by WFAA tells a different story.
According to the report, “Evidence showed juveniles were confined within their rooms up to 24 hours a day for multiple days at a time without basic program requirements.”
County Commissioners have been battling the juvenile board and the juvenile detention department to obtain observation sheets that show how long juveniles were in their cells and if they were going to class. They refused to release the records and sued.
“So when there was the immediate lawsuit against the Commissioner’s Court to stop us from getting the observation sheets, that told me people who knew about those observations’ sheets at the juvenile dept. Didn’t want them to be seen,” said Clay Jenkins, Dallas County Judge.
The OIG report goes into detail about how those records were being falsified and at times went missing.
The OIG investigator said, “The facility lost the observation sheets, and he was told they no longer existed. The facility was missing observation sheets for 176 of the 191 of those juveniles for multiple dates and shifts.”
Again, back in May, WFAA asked Judge Shannon about this allegation.
“I can tell you by state law we are required to maintain records the Texas Juvenile Department looks at those records and information to say it’s been destroyed and it’s gone I don’t believe that,” said Judge Shannon.
County Commissioner Andy Sommerman and County Judge Clay Jenkins have been pushing Judge Shannon and the board to be more transparent but were met with resistance.
“And I think if we had obtained those very early on, we would have seen either one of those two things that there was substantiation to the fact that kids were being left in isolation or records were being altered,” said Andy Sommerman, Dallas County Commissioner.
According to the law, juveniles are supposed to be out of their cells for 10 hours a day and they are supposed to attend class. However, the report says some teachers allegedly falsified records to show juveniles were attending classes.
“Teachers were falsely reporting they were providing education in sections when juveniles were inside their rooms.”
All of this was happening for years under the noses of the juvenile board and the leadership at the juvenile detention facility. It wasn’t until there was public outcry after WFFA’s reports in May that Judge Shannon asked the director Daryll Beatty and the Asst. Director DeAndra Jones to resign.
“The OIG report does indicate that there is falsification of various records. I should not comment on criminal prosecutions but if someone is guilty of those crimes, they should be prosecuted.”
At a recent board meeting, Judge Shannon gave a PowerPoint defending the board and its actions saying as soon as she learned of allegations from the media a year and a half ago, she asked investigators to step in.
“My instruction to Mr. Beatty at the time was to make sure the allegation went to TJJD,” said Judge Shannon.
She took issue with media reports, those who criticized the board, and those who were running the center.
“There has been a lot of conversation and a lot of disparaging remarks about people personally. This never should have been personal. This was always a dispute about process,” Judge Shannon said.
And that process continues. There are ongoing criminal investigations that could ultimately lead to prosecutions.