From today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch:
A youth allegedly beaten by an officer at the Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center on Nov. 1 said that he briefly lost consciousness and that he continues to fear for his safety.
In a letter to The Times-Dispatch, Tyrone Johnson said, “I could taste blood in my mouth and see it coming out of my nose and I went black for a couple of seconds and then they handcuff me and they drag me.”
Johnson, 17, said that once dragged from his cell, he was knocked down and beaten again. “I’m scared for my life so help me please please!!!” he wrote.
[…]
Juvenile Correctional Officer David Paul Shurland, who witnessed the incident, said that one officer was fired and three were demoted.
[…]
Shurland said Johnson was repeatedly punched in the head and face by an officer while the youth was handcuffed and being held down by four other officers. Johnson was knocked down and punched again by the officer after Johnson allegedly spit in the officer’s face.
To those with good memories, this will sound familiar. Abuse has been common over the years at Beaumont. Not allegations of abuse, but confirmed cases of children being beaten into unconsciousness by guards.
This all came to light in May of 1996. The Justice Department, after tipped off to routine abuse of children, launched an investigation. Governor George Allen, having been elected on a “tough on crime” ticket, established harsh new standards for juvenile offenders, putting them in prison for lesser offenses and keeping them in longer.
Overcrowding inevitably got worse, abuse became more common, and the whole system quickly ceased to rehabilitate children, and instead turned them into hardened criminals. This was a stark contrast to just a decade previously, when Virginia’s juvenile-justice system was considered the model for the whole of nation and the envy of leaders of states across the country. Allen and his Secretary of Public Safety turned that whole system on its head, though, and managed to destroy everything good about the system, making it worse than useless.
Despite the obviousness of the abuse — it was as clear then as it is now — the reaction from the Allen administration was shocking. Rather than admit fault, express shame at the federal government’s need to get involved, they became very defensive. The Secretary of Public Safety declared that the whole probe was purely political, an effort by President Clinton to detract from Gov. Allen’s juvenile justice overhaul. As the Virginian-Pilot wrote in an editorial at the time (May 23, 1996):
Much as Virginia would like to handle its own problems, officials should listen carefully to what the Justice Department has to say. This probe should not disintegrate into a federal/state standoff, but should be taken as a chance to assess what’s wrong and move forward.
Lives may be at stake, literally – those of errant juveniles, of the men and women who guard them and of a public that sooner or later will have most of these young people back in its its midst.
The Secretary of Public Safety paid no heed, of course. As Beaumont spiraled downward he remained in denial, unwilling to hear the pleas of kids like Tyrone Johnson.
That Secretary of Public Safety? Jerry Kilgore.