DENVER—State lawmakers killed a bill Thursday that would have made it a crime for administrators and counselors at youth detention facilities to ignore abuse allegations and alter official reports.
Lawmakers said they were appalled at reports of injuries and sexual abuse at a youth center near Greeley, but they said there was no evidence the problems were widespread.
The bill was rejected in the House Health & Human Services Committee on a 6-5 vote.
Rep. B.J. Nikkel, R-Loveland, said she introduced the bill after hearing reports of juveniles being injured at the Platte Valley Youth Services Center.
“I think we need this legislation because I think there has been a distinct pattern of abuse and a culture of abuse that has prevailed and occurred for many years at least at one particular facility. I believe that pattern of abuse continues to this very day,” Nikkel told the committee.
Rep. Diane Primavera, D-Broomfield, said she was disturbed by testimony from state officials who oversee the facility that some of the youths in the state’s care were “bad kids” who were being kept in check by counselors who had only their bare hands to defend themselves, resulting in occasional injuries when the juveniles had to be restrained.
“I don’t think we can turn a blind eye that abuse may be occurring,” Primavera said.
Golden Police Capt. Darryl Hollingsworth, representing the Colorado Chiefs of Police, opposed the bill, telling lawmakers if the bill passed, his office would be swamped with calls from juveniles housed in local facilities. He said his department already has a good working relationship with the state.
Officials with the state Department of Human Services, which runs youth corrections, told lawmakers that if the bill became law, they would have to hire seven people at a cost of about $700,000 a year to investigate 1,333 reports of abuse and injuries per year at state-run facilities. The estimated number of reports was based on approximately 1,500 restraints of juveniles, 400 assaults and 50 reports of abuse investigated by county departments of social services in youth corrections facilities each year.
George Kennedy, executive director of the department that oversees youth corrections, including Platte Valley, told the committee his department recently discovered that official reports of abuse by staff members could be altered, and his office is investigating ways to stop it. He also promised to expand a committee studying child welfare, following a string of deaths in that program, to include youths in detention.
The bill would have required the department to file a report any time a youth claimed to have been injured as a result of abuse or neglect, an inappropriate use of force or restraint, or an assault by another person in the facility instigated by an employee.
Access to the reports would have been restricted and changes would be barred.
Violators could have been charged with a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail and a $750 fine.
The bill was introduced after The Associated Press reported last year that a girl’s wrist was broken while she was being restrained at Platte Valley, which houses 130 youths convicted of crimes or detained for court hearings. Another youth claimed he was injured when a counselor sat on him while he was handcuffed.
Neither incident was reported to police. Lawmakers questioned whether internal state reports on the incidents had been altered after workers and former workers said their reports were frequently edited to remove claims of potential abuse or infractions by staff.
A third youth nearly lost an eye when he was beaten by other detainees because they believed he was a snitch. The youth had told counselors he was targeted by gang members, but no security precautions were taken. The youth also told authorities he believed he had been set up by Platte Valley counselors.
John Malloy, a counselor who says he was fired from the facility last month because he was suspected of whistleblowing, told the committee state officials frequently edited reports about abuse and injuries at Platte Valley.
He told lawmakers that administration officials and favored employees banded together in a group known at Platte Valley as the “book club” that responded to serious incidents involving juveniles so they could handle the incident reports, protecting each other from allegations of abuse.
State officials haven’t discussed why Malloy was dismissed but say they do not retaliate against whistle-blowers.
State officials told lawmakers earlier this month they found no pattern of abuse at Platte Valley and insisted there was no evidence of a cover-up.
