The Dallas County Juvenile Justice Board held an emergency session on Monday to accept the resignation of Darryl Beatty, the executive director of the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center, following a surprise inspection of the premises.
The resignation follows allegations of mistreatment of inmates and inhumane conditions at the juvenile detention facility.
Michael Waters of Dallas Black Clergy held a news conference earlier this month to raise awareness about the purportedly poor conditions at the justice center, citing testimony from two former detainees.
WFAA reported that whistleblowers provided the news outlet with pictures showing filthy living conditions at the detention center and claimed that inmates were only allowed out of their cells for one hour per day. State law requires that they be out of their cells for 10 hours per day.
Beatty responded with his own news conference, denying the allegations and claiming the facility was clean and well-managed.
“The statements and allegations being leveled against our detention center that youth are being subjected to inhumane treatment is categorically false,” Beatty said in a prepared statement, per WFAA.
However, a visit to the facility by state inspectors a week ago appears to have contradicted those assurances.
“Last year, kids were being held in disciplinary seclusion, outside what is allowed by law and outside of our policy. That was once again happening,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said, per Fox 4 KDFW.
He said that while he has not yet reviewed the full inspection report, he has been briefed on the initial findings.
“We’re not going to keep these kids forever, so even if you don’t care about the kids in the juvenile department, care about the fact they are going to get back out and be in the community. You want kids who have been rehabilitated,” said Jenkins.
Waters called the justice center a “house of horrors.”
“Instead of a place of rehabilitation, it is a place of trauma,” he said, per Fox 4.
Meanwhile, Commissioner John Wiley Price defended the board for its prompt action.
“Now is the time to unify and move forward so we can all better serve the community,” he said.
Commissioner Andy Sommerman, a member of the Dallas County Juvenile Justice Board, also suggested that additional changes at the board level might also be required, according to Fox 4.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Price and Sommerman had a short but intense disagreement during a March 5 Dallas County Commissioners Court meeting. The meeting involved a discussion regarding the 30-month service contracts for the Dallas County Juvenile Department (DCJD).
Sommerman’s time with the juvenile department has been strained since he was appointed to replace Price on the board last year.
DCJD filed a lawsuit against the court following a subpoena by Sommerman for records from the detention facility pertaining to juvenile solitary confinement, per The Dallas Express.
Regardless of past disagreements, the next step for the Dallas County Juvenile Board following Beatty’s recent resignation will be to appoint an interim director.
