COLUMBIA, S.C. — Continued accusations of employees with inadequate training, too few employees, and an increase in violence involving inmates and staff. News 19 took a closer look behind the fence at South Carolina's Department of Juvenile Justice ahead of a meeting on Thursday, May 20, where lawmakers are scheduled to review the Legislative Audit Council's findings of a recent audit of the agency.
“The children behind the fence are running the prison,” Senator Katrina Shealy (Lexington, District 23, R) said. “The children are in charge and they know it."
Reported issues at the State Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) first started to come to light after a riot in 2016.
Officials with DJJ at the time reported juveniles stole cars, escaped through drainage grates and set fires at the Broad River Road Facility, during the disturbance. When lawmakers heard from the agency after the riot, they learned the majority of female officers were not equipped with any weapons and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) was never called. [SLED is normally called to investigate incidents involving other state law enforcement agencies and detention centers.]
This was the start of conversations about retention, pay increases and high turnover rates at DJJ, among other issues. Since then, lawmakers continue to look into what changes need to be made at the facility. Among the lawmakers, Sen. Shealy, and she is just one of several who want the Attorney General's Office to investigate the department.
“Since we became involved, we are learning more every day,” Shealy said.
Marcia Lindsay, the Deputy Director of the Legislative Audit Council (LAC), said in the 2017 audit the council was mainly trying to figure out what security issues existed at the facility.
“We had 74 recommendations for improvement, and I mean, we looked at things like turnover, use of funds, other services provided to the juveniles in that 2017 audit,” Lindsay said. “We did find in that audit that the agency may not be adequately prepared for any other major disturbance and we also found DJJ Juvenile Correction Officers (JCO) were not being properly trained, and that's an ongoing issue."
The same issues were found three years later, in the most recent almost 200-page audit. Lindsay said they also made more recommendations -- 101 to be exact.
The average number of recorded incidents per month has more than doubled since 2017.
"The main finding of this report is that DJJ does not maintain sufficient security staff to ensure the safety of the youth in its custody -- or its own staff -- at the secure facility,” Lindsay said.
During the audit process, Lindsay said the auditors visit the facility, conduct surveys among the DJJ staff, and interview staff about everything from job satisfaction to security and other safety issues.
“We found people were scared to go to work -- people who worked there for years,” Lindsay said. “And people also told us they were just really scared that somebody was going to end up dying because of the security, or the lack thereof."
Several other findings from the 2020 audit show issues with training, employee compensation and retention, not providing timely, appropriate medical care for juveniles, and financial issues.
Lindsay said observations during tours in 2019 showed certain areas were not staffed and now Shealy said she worries for both the staff and children. The report shows 57% of staff who work with youth daily say they don't feel safe.
“There's going to be bigger problems out there,” Shealy said. “Somebody is going to get killed or seriously injured. I think it's going to take a miracle to fix what's out there right now."
The 2020 audit shows in 2016 DJJ had 1,367 employees. That number had dropped to 1,229 employees in 2020. That's a loss of 138 employees.
"They are steadily losing correctional officers,” Lindsay said.
According to the audit, correctional officer and law enforcement officer positions were the most impacted.
“Without proper security, nothing else can really function properly,” Lindsay said. “You can't get the kids proper educational services, medical care, all of those types of things. And this audit, we still found issues with training. It's a vulnerable population, and something that really needs to be improved for these youth."
After the 2017 audit was released, the former DJJ Director, Sylvia Murray resigned. Then, Freddie Pough took over as director. He responded to the most recent follow up report in a ten-page memo, saying he had several areas of disagreement.
One of his responses reads in part:
"DJJ is committed to continuing these improvements, including a number of those recommended by LAC, and will defer to the general assembly for guidance with regard to recommendations that may require additional funding or legislative authorization."
Pough noted issues with funding several times. In an interview related to the audit earlier this month, on May 5, with News 19, Pough said he feels the audit needed more context to explain the findings, but plans to be involved in moving forward and making necessary improvements.
"These efforts we are continuing to make are efforts that began back in 2018. There’s a number of initiatives that we’ve already started to work on to improve things here at DJJ, but again, we came into the agency with things being a little rough and needing some adjusting so, it’s going to take some time, but we’re are dedicated to working with the General Assembly and all other external partners to make things better not only for the young people, but for the staff as well," Pough said. "We want staff and young people to be in the best environment possible.”
The director also said he is hopeful to get help from the General Assembly to attract more officers.
According to the State Executive Budget for 2020-2021 a grand total of $147,223,555 was appropriated for DJJ.
In the audit, Lindsay said the agency never used funds to give raises to the officers.
"DJJ’s entry level correctional officers are paid approximately $2,600 less than the Department of Corrections, but the Department of Corrections has steadily gone to the General Assembly just for that,” Lindsay said. “Now, DJJ has asked for funding for that and it has not been funded. But the difference -- and something we point out in our report -- is when they had some funds available, they did not put those funds toward the juvenile corrections officers, the essential critical positions in the agency. They gave raises to other folks."
Pough said the agency has been working on hiring and retaining officers.
“We understand there is strength in numbers and we’re trying to do all we can to increase our numbers," Pough said.
Click here, to read Pough's full 10-page response to the audit.
Ultimately, the goal is to make the agency stronger and care for the needs of both employees and incarcerated children in the state's care.
“Children are still children. They need guidance, and they need love,” Shealy said.
“If you don't have proper security, and properly trained employees, then they're not going to get the services they need,” Lindsay said. “And they're not going to be cared for, in appropriate manner, to rehabilitate them and to get them ready to go back and engage with the community."
A hearing with the director of DJJ is scheduled for Thursday morning. News 19 also confirmed the Attorney General's Office is thoroughly reviewing the audit report and then will decide if an investigation is necessary.
Click here, to read the 2017 audit.
Click here, to read the 2021 audit.