Last November November 19-year-old Jade Holder was beaten to death. Holder was incarcerated at the Augusta Youth Development Campus (YDC) at the time.
Since then no less than eleven employees of the YDC have been fired. Gale Buckner, state Department of Juvenile Justice commissioner, told the press that criminal charges will be pursued after a joint investigation by her agency and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Summer Moore of The Augusta Chronicle reports:
‘I find this latest officer misconduct case particularly egregious,’ Buckner said. ‘Because the events and blatant policy violations that led to the termination of JCO Tracy Banks for inappropriate conduct occurred even after we publicly announced we were bringing in agents from DJJ and the GBI to open investigations into misconduct cases at the Augusta YDC.’
The firing came after a daylong lockdown on Jan. 24 while GBI agents and DJJ investigators interviewed all of the YDC’s employees looking for evidence of sexual misconduct and contraband, the release says.
‘Apparently we have some policy violators who might think we’re done, but we’re not,’ Buckner said. ‘After our administrative probe is complete, the GBI investigations will continue and then criminal charges will be pursued.’
It is a true shame not only that this behavior occurs at all, but even more so that it continued in flagrant defiance of Officer Banks in the face of the investigation. This, more than the sheer number of terminations, throws into stark relief just how dysfunctional the system is.
As long as we rely on a broken system of juvenile justice tragic stories like this will keep rearing their ugly heads. The entrenched problems being thrown into sharp relief in Augusta are a symptom of a wider rot that has spread through the fabric of our society, a rot based in a toxic combination of lost opportunities, poor education, substance abuse and mental illness.
Juvenile detention centers often act as training grounds for better criminals, but that is only the beginning. When the abuse is coming from the figures of authority the psychological ramifications are even more devastating.
Thankfully WJBF News 6 reports that more light may be shining on the subject in the near future:
Next month, the interim director of the YDC, Gary Jones will finish his term with the YDC, so we’ll get a closer look at how things are inside the facility.
News 6 also provides a complete timeline of events at the Augusta YDC for those who wish to take a closer look at the events leading up to this sorry state of affairs.
The state of juvenile justice in this country is horrible, but things will not change until more people demand it. It is to raise awareness of these deplorable situations that we are releasing Born, Not Raised: Voices from Juvenile Hall in March of this year. Please follow us on Facebook or Google+ for updates on it’s release!
