CSEA Slams State Juvenile Justice Policy in Wake of Brutal NYC Cop Shooting

ALBANY, NY (02/02/2012)(readMedia)-- In the wake of the brutal shooting of a New York City police officer by a former resident of a state operated juvenile detention center, CSEA today slammed a state Office of Children and Family Services plan to escalate the release of juvenile offenders from upstate facilities and place them in community programs.

Officer Kevin Brennan was critically injured Jan. 21 after being shot in the back of the head inside a Brooklyn public housing project. The suspected shooter, Luis (Baby) Ortiz, had been released by OCFS from the Goshen Secure Center in Orange County. Police said Ortiz, who had violently assaulted an aide while at the facility, was also wanted for the New Year's Day murder of 34-year-old Shannon McKinney in front of a Brooklyn supermarket.

It appears that Ortiz was released by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services when his time was served, even though he was in the county jail on assault charges after an altercation with staff and could have had his time extended by the agency.

CSEA is concerned that city agencies and not-for-profit providers won't be up to the task of dealing with youthful offenders. There is also concern that shifting jobs from the state may open the door to corruption and patronage. The union's biggest concern is the lack of an adequate plan as to how the proposal would work. There is little detail in the OCFS budget proposal for radically downsizing state youth detention facilities and shifting custody to ill-prepared alternative agencies.

"You can't just announce an undertaking as large as this and offer no plan or any details whatsoever as to how you intend for it to work," said CSEA President Danny Donohue. "Still, the public is being asked to blindly buy in with this 'Don't worry, just trust us,' mentality."

Donohue said the dedicated and highly qualified workers who put themselves on the line every day, often being beaten and battered by youths assigned to their care, are being rewarded by having their jobs eliminated and their futures jeopardized.

Donohue said residents at state juvenile detention centers are put there because they belong there. Many act out violently and, but for their age, most would be in prison for the crimes they committed. Some have serious mental health and substance abuse issues that successive OCFS administrations have failed to address, even in secure settings. Many of the youth have been sent by the courts to state facilities after multiple offenses and after less restrictive programs have failed to change their behavior.

"There are real public safety concerns that need to be addressed here," Donohue said. "It makes no sense whatsoever to put these felons - violent, repeat offenders - back into the very neighborhoods where they got in trouble in the first place."

CSEA has been calling for a more responsible approach to New York state's juvenile justice system for years, warning about dangerously deteriorating conditions at state juvenile detention facilities, including one at which 19 staff, including the facility director, have recently been victims of violent attacks by youths in their care.

News reports recently revealed that 18 out of 33 youth division aides (YDAs) currently employed at the Taberg Residential Center in Oneida County are out of work due to severe injuries suffered in attacks by residents. Their injuries include two broken collarbones, a concussion, a broken ankle and a dislocated shoulder. To cover for their injured co-workers and provide the round-the-clock supervision residents require, the remaining aides must work double shifts, making their physically and emotionally draining jobs even more stressful and more dangerous.

Taberg is symptomatic of a larger problem. According to a report issued by the state Department of Civil Service on state employee Workers' Compensation claims, YDAs have the second highest on-the-job injury rate of all state job titles.

Violent attacks on staff by youths in their care have increased at an alarming rate under current OCFS policies that include shifting the agency from a correctional model to a so-called "sanctuary model" which centers on reducing or eliminating restraints and providing more therapeutic care. In current OCFS policy, violent youth are not held accountable for infractions that would increase their length of stay in OCFS facilities. Additionally, the Goshen Secure Center has been found in violation of the Public Employee Safety and Health Act by the NY State Department of Labor for not addressing condition that have led to an increase in workplace violence incidents at the facility.

Despite attempts by the union and the aides it represents to work cooperatively with OCFS officials to make the sanctuary model a success, front-line workers were never given the staff, resources and support, to make it work.

CSEA also blames OCFS for creating a myth of empty facilities - deliberately running down resident population at certain facilities by manipulating the transfer of youths to other facilities in order to justify closing the now under populated facilities and move youths into the community, whether community programs were ready to meet their needs or not. Current community-based programs are entirely inadequate to handle the challenges presented by youths being dumped into them. That has led to tragic consequences CSEA believes city officials should seriously consider before buying into the idea of bringing troubled youths into their communities.

"City officials, including Mayor Bloomberg, who welcome this proposal as some kind of jobs bill better be careful what you wish for," Donohue said, noting that existing facilities don't have the resources necessary to deal with the complex array of problems the young offenders will present. "This will be another Rene Greco times a hundred."

Donohue was referring to the murder of Buffalo area direct care worker Rene Greco by a youth who had been released by OCFS to her care. He pointed to that and the shootings of Brennan and Rochester police officer Anthony DiPonzio as grim reminders of the tragic consequences that result from moving troubled youth into the community without adequate resources and supervision.

These tragic incidents are only some of the glaring examples of what results when violent youth are inappropriately released into the community.

"OCFS has consistently shown a complete disregard for the safety of staff, residents or members of the community, ignoring the concerns of CSEA, community members and law enforcement officials" Donohue said. "This rapid and reckless dumping of violent individuals back onto the streets is dangerous and irresponsible and will continue to put unsuspecting communities at risk."