More disturbing news came out of Colorado’s Division of Youth Services this week as we learned a guard in Grand Junction has been charged with sexually assaulting two juveniles.
It is the state’s job to keep juveniles who are incarcerated in its facilities safe, and the incidents reported by The Denver Post’s Jennifer Brown clearly indicate juveniles were not safe in this facility.
And that’s especially disappointing because the Grand Mesa Youth Services Center was known to be a shining example of treatment and rehabilitation among the 10 facilities within the Division of Youth Services (DYS). Brown reports that in 2014 the Grand Mesa facility was named one of the top three facilities in the nation for sexual safety.
But all it takes is one bad person to take advantage of a vulnerable population and a security system that appears to have made it easy for a male guard to be alone with female inmates in unmonitored areas.
The good news is that leadership at Grand Mesa Youth Services took accusations coming from two juveniles seriously and immediately suspended the guard in question so the victims wouldn’t be in danger or have to face their alleged assailant again.
And law enforcement immediately began an investigation. Deputies used the statements of the juveniles and security footage that corroborated portions of their stories to arrest the suspect.
Brian Matthew Tate has been charged with 10 felonies and six misdemeanors, including sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse.
DYS director Anders Jacobson said an internal investigation into the incident has been launched that will include looking at additional safety measures that could have prevented these incidents. Jacobson said he will be personally briefed on the outcome.
It’s unfair to extrapolate too much from a single incident like this, even if it’s to indict of a system of juvenile incarceration that has been under attack in recent years by lawmakers, justice advocates and this editorial board.
Which brings us to another disturbing development.
On Tuesday the American Civil Liberties Union, Disability Law Colorado and the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center sent a letter to Jacobson, questioning the wisdom of awarding an employee with more than 30 complaints in just over two years the August employee of the month award at Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center.
DYS responded that the employee is no longer working directly with juveniles and the employee of the month is an award voted on by peers and staff.
But it’s the timeline of events that concerns us.
In late January, officials with the Office of the State Public Defender raised concerns in an official letter about the employee, but it wasn’t until late May when he was moved to a position that doesn’t have direct contact with juveniles. In June the Department of Human Services found “a pattern of alleged physical abuse” but emphasized none of the complaints had been founded. In August, the employee was named employee of the month.
It’s clear that DYS took accusations of sexual assault seriously and acted immediately, but we’ve seen less evidence of an ability for DYS to act quickly or at all when there are accusations of physical abuse.
We share in Jacobson’s vision for DYS to become a place of rehabilitation and treatment, and hope officials use these recent, unfortunate events as a tool to prevent future harm to juveniles.
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