Problematic Florida Juvenile Center Closes

Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice is closing a privately operated juvenile offender facility that has been the subject of allegations of poor supervision and treatment. The 154-bed Thompson Academy, a low-security facility, is run by Youth Services International (YSI).

The DJJ informed YSI in an August 2, 2012 letter of its decision to close the Thompson Academy. The DJJ said it is “moving to smaller residential programs.” The DJJ’s spokesman, C.J. Drake, said, “Controversy in the past has nothing to do with the decision.”

One of those controversies involved a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which alleged a 14-year-old boy had been sexually assaulted at Thompson Academy. That lawsuit was resolved in May 2011 in a sealed settlement.

In June 2012, the Broward County Public Defender’s Office filed a habeas corpus petition asking a state court for an order to remove and stop sending juveniles to the Thompson Academy. The juveniles were suffering abuses that included intimidation, physical harm, and the use of food as “currency” to reward certain behaviors, said Gordon Weeks, chief assistant public defender in Broward County, when the suit was filed.

The DJJ responded to that petition with a statement that argued previously alleged abuses at Thompson Academy “have been investigated and were not substantial.” A DJJ team sent to Thompson in the wake of the petition’s filing to interview juveniles revealed, “The only issue of significance in these interviews was the complaint by some youth that they were not getting enough to eat.” DJJ said a dietician was to look into the matter.

The judges on the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court’s juvenile delinquency division met in July to hear the public defender’s petition. While they commended the public defender for his efforts to “champion the cause for the indigent and ensure that we stand equal should be recognized,” the judges declined to act as “overseer” of the Thompson Academy. They noted there were agencies for that role.

The DJJ told YSI it could bid to operate smaller juvenile programs. The DJJ’s decision, if followed through at other facilities, could affect the $81.8 million worth of contracts YSI hold to operate seven Florida juvenile offender centers and programs. Source: Center for Public Integrity

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