“We did have our own internal look into Ohio River Valley and some of the incidents that were occurring there,” Andrea Cruse of the Ohio Department of Youth Services said. “We basically did a case study review on some of the incidents of use of force that happened over a six-month period at the Ohio River Valley facility.”
The report concluded that the majority of the cases involved youths with a history of violent incidents, who were repeatedly involved in incidents such as hurting themselves, gang involvement and mental health problems.
“These factors contributed to the likelihood of an incident,” a review by DYS facility resource administrator Patrick Hurley indicated. “These factors do not justify the injuries, but certainly establish high-risk situations.”
The study of ORVJC also said wet and slippery floors sometimes created hazardous situations for falls.
“There was not any evidence to indicate the staff were acting maliciously in their response and their application of force,” Cruse said. “There were some times when there may have been some policy complaints and issues which either were or are being addressed through the appropriate disciplinary process.”
Cruse said as a result of the study, the DYS has come up with a list of things all facilities in the state, including ORVJC, have been doing over the last several months to monitor the situation in terms of emphasizing the use of planned intervention.
“Every facility, including Ohio River Valley, has an intervention administrator, a person who is experienced in use of force instruction and reviewing incidents,” Cruse said. “And what they do is actually review every single use of force incident, to help ensure that that force is used only when necessary and that when it is used, it is used appropriately.”
The study reported on by Cohen blamed combative youth, how guards restrain them and the guards’ possible failure to coordinate their responses to violent run-ins for injuries to juveniles at ORVJC.
The report concluded the frequency of the use of force by guards across the system most often occurred at ORVJC.
“Overall, the use of force is trending downward across the state, including Ohio River Valley,” Cruse said. “Violence is trending downward, but there are things that we are working on that we are still going to be putting into place.”
Cruse said the situation would continue to be closely monitored.
Gov. Ted Strickland recently named former director of the Department of Youth Services, Tom Stickrath, director of the Department of Public Safety, a day after former Director Cathy Collins-Taylor was rejected by the Ohio Senate.
FRANK LEWIS can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232 or flewis@heartlandpublications.com
I have friends who work in the system and they talk about the gang violence. These "kids" are the same "kids" that many of us would run away from if we met them on a sidewalk or street. These guards are outnumbered 2 or 3 to 20-40 for 8 hours a day (or 16 for overtime) while at work. Imagine spending 8-16 hours a day with 20 violent, angry, arrogant, disrespectful, some mentally ill, juvenile felons between the ages of 13-20...all while unarmed. These men and women do this apparently thankless job because they love kids. They believe they can make a difference in the lives of these individuals who order gang hits on them. I think they deserve a metal not headlines questioning their work ethics.
These Kids are like the adults already, cutting themselves, etc. like they do in the Montford unit in Lubbock, TX, a mental hospital unit. Is Ohio in the 19th. Century in this area too?
Where's the Governor's fellow counselors? Mental health officials administrating to our leaders of tomorrow? Where?