Office of the Independent Ombudsman
for the Texas Youth Commission

Third Quarterly Report on the Activities of the
Office of the Independent Ombudsman
for the Texas Youth Commission
July 2008
I.

Introduction

This report is the Third Quarterly Report to be submitted by this office under
statute and is intended for the Conservator of the Texas Youth Commission, the
Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, members of the Texas Legislature, and
the Auditor for the State of Texas. This report will serve to provide a description of the
activities of the office during the third quarter of FY 08, and will address the following
areas as specified by Senate Bill 103 (SB103).
• the general scope of work of the Office of the Independent Ombudsman (OIO);
• trends observed as the result of reviews and investigations of facilities and
contract care programs that have been undertaken by this office;
• recommendations to improve the efficiency of the operations of the Texas Youth
Commission and the OIO.
The OIO has submitted additional reports and testimony to the members of the
Joint Committee on the Operation and Management of the Texas Youth Commission as
well as several other Committees and Sub-Committees which have held numerous
hearings since the conclusion of the 80th Regular Session. Additionally the Chief
Ombudsman has met twice with Sunset Commission staff, and the office continues its
work to prepare Legislative Appropriations Requests for the next session and to provide
information required by the Legislative Budget Board.

II.

Overview of the Work of the Office of the
Independent Ombudsman

During this quarter the staff members of the OIO, one of its interns, and two
expert consultants have traveled to various TYC facilities and contract care programs to
evaluate services and to ensure that the rights of youth committed to the TYC are
protected. This office has focused a substantial amount of its time and resources this
quarter with the valuable assistance of Dr. Michael Krezmien evaluating the educational
services offered by the Texas Youth Commission, with an emphasis on the special
education services offered. The office has also begun a review of some of the medical
6400 East Highway 290, Suite 202 · Austin, Texas 78723
(512)533-2770 · (512)533-2702 fax
SB 103, Sec. 64.002. " The office of independent ombudsman is a state agency established for the purpose of investigating, evaluating, and
securing the rights of the children committed to the commission, including a child released under supervision before final discharge."

services offered to youth committed to the commission with an emphasis on the
services provided to female youth including those youth in contract care programs who
are pregnant and/or parenting.
In addition to the above mentioned items this quarter, the OIO has also seen the
completion of the Parents’ Bill of Rights which we helped draft. Currently the OIO is
represented on several reform working groups which were necessitated by the passage
of SB 103, problems identified with operations of TYC, and federal legislation. Some of
these include:
• The Committee to ensure compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination
Act (PREA)
• The Committee to evaluate CoNEXTions – TYC’s new treatment program
• The Needs of Female Offenders Committee – formed to address gender
parity, and the unique needs of incarcerated female youth
• The Behavior Management Plan/Redirect Committee
• Use of Force Committee
• Staff Training Committee
• The Youth Grievance System Committee
• The Tracking System Database Committee
• The Medical Concerns Committee
• Re-Entry working group to address the concerns of youth re-entering
public schools after being incarcerated
• TCOOMI Work Group – a group to assist youth with mental health needs
who are returning to the community with accessing mental health services
The OIO has established a web presence thanks to the valuable
assistance of TYC web designer Cynthia Park. You can view that website at the
following link:
http://www.tyc.state.tx.us/ombudsman/index.html

The OIO created and has posted (in both English and Spanish) a pamphlet on its
website which will be provided for youth and parents/gua rdians outlining ways for youth
to stay safe from sexual and other types of assault while in TYC facilities and contract
care programs. The pamphlet is currently being prepared for printing and dissemination
to youth at TYC institutions, as well as halfwa y houses and contract care facilities.

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The Youth Ombudsman Pilot Program 1 which has been piloted at both Giddings
and Ron Jackson Unit I has continued this quarter with success. The office has been
informed of events by the youth ombudsmen during regular phone calls and site visits
which we might not ha ve otherwise been made aware of. For example, Youth
Ombudsmen at Ron Jackson informed us once by phone that on an occasion, female
youth at the Ron Jackson Unit were not provided medications because an entire dorm
was turned away from the infirmary due to the actions of three peers. This office acted
on the information and took the opportunity to investigate the event and take the
concerns to the Medical Director to ensure that youth would not be denied medication
punitively because of the actions of other peers. Other information was made available
to the office subsequent to the riot which occurred on May 5, 2008 at Giddings State
School. Their input, which came in the form of written memos and teleconference
participation in work group meetings, has been well received by working groups revising
TYC policies and procedures. The Youth Ombudsman Pilot Program will become even
more valuable and sustainable once we formalize a more collaborative relationship with
the Youth Rights Division; a process that began after a recent reorganization of that
division.

Accounting of Site Visits
The OIO had some unique challenges placed before it this quarter, including
when the Conservator specifically asked one of the Assistant Ombudsmen to visit the Al
Price State Juvenile Correctional Complex on nearly a weekly basis for several weeks.
Additionally the OIO staff went to several facilities with the purpose of obtaining data for
the Review of Educational Services which is in the final stage of completion, and these
visits took many days. That initiative also required extensive document review. Another
change this quarter was that the OIO began to focus more extensively on the services
offered to youth on parole and was able to travel to the largest district office (located in
Houston, Texas) to meet with staff and evaluate re-entry issues to ensure the rights of
the youth on parole were also monitored. That initiative will continue through the next
quarter and will be a focus of the next report.
The Chief Ombudsman went to several different facilities to conduct site visits.
Table 1 documents all visits made by the Chief Ombudsman this quarter. Table 2
shows all visits made by Assistant Ombudsmen this quarter. At times both the Chief
Ombudsman and one or more of his staff were on the facility at the same time. For
Table 3, the ‘Number Interviewed’ column represents the number of youth who were
formally interviewed specifically about education services. None of the youths counted

1

The OIO Youth Ombudsman Pilot Program was approved by Conservator Richard Nedelkoff in
February 2008 in keeping with the underlying philosophy of his reform priority stated in Vision &
st
Framework for the 21 Century Texas Youth Commission (February 2008) “All TYC facilities have
student councils to help youth learn responsibility and to enable them to have a voice in
operational and rule-making decisions at their campuses. This endeavor will soon be extended to
encourage student council input at the agency-level. In addition to voicing concerns, TYC student
council representatives also participate in community service and youth leadership activities.”

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in Table 3 is counted in any of the measures for Tables 1 or 2. None of the youths
counted are duplicated.
Table1

Chief Ombudsman Site Visits

Facility Visited

Date(s) of Visit

Mart I
Crockett
Giddings
Giddings

February 25
February 25-26
March 5-March 6
March 24
April 3

Number of Youth Met In
Person by Chief
12
11 (2/25) 30 (2/26)
24
12
15

April 3

2

April 3

1

April 4

9

April 7-8
April 16
May 8
May 14
May 21
May 30
June 11
June 11
June 17-18
June 24-25
June 26
July 1
July 3

8
9
9
5
14
3
7
8
13 total for both days
0 – Staff interviews only
14
5

New Waverly Do/
Gulf Coast Trades Center
Houston DO/Southwest Key
Independent Living Program
Alliance East Foster
Care Contract
Byrd’s Therapeutic
Group Home

Ron Jackson Unit I
Ron Jackson Unit I
Giddings
Giddings
Giddings
Giddings
Mart I
Mart II
Ron Jackson Unit I
Houston District Office
Al Price
Giddings
Ron Jackson Unit I

146 – Assembly/Q&A Session

Total Youth Met In-person
Table 2

327
Assistant Ombudsman Site Visits

Facility Visited

Date(s) of Visit

Crockett
Victory Field
Gainesville
Al Price
Cottrell House
McFadden Ranch
Al Price

February 26
February 28-29
February 29
March 10-11
March 22
March 22
March 31-April 2
4

Number of Youth Met In
Person by Assistant(s)
8
9
1
14
1
1
18

Al Price
Ron Jackson Unit I
Al Price
Giddings
Gainesville
Al Price
Ron Jackson Unit I
Mart II
Al Price
Giddings
Mart I
Mart I
Ron Jackson Unit I
Houston D.O
Al Price
Corsicana
W.I.N.G.S.

April 7-8
April 7-8
April 16-17
April 17
April 21-23
April 30
May 1
May 12
May 13-14
May 21
June3
June 11
June 16-17
June 24-25
June 26
June 30
July 2

12
17
8
11
17
5
6
3
0 youth; all teaching staff
1
4
5
20 in group; 8 individually
2 youth; multiple files & staff
21
18
6

Total Youth Met In-person

Table 3

216

Number of Youth Interviewed regarding
Education Services by Campus
Facility
Al Price
Crockett
Gainesville
Giddings
Mart I
Mart II/AMP
Ron Jackson Unit I

Number Interviewed
30
15
30
21
10
30
35

Total Students Interviewed

171

Individual Cases
There were several individual cases which were referred to this office in a variety
of ways. Some of these cases were youth who called the office directly seeking OIO
services, some cases were referred to the office by family members of the incarcerated
youth, a few cases were brought to the attention of the office by TYC staff, two were
brought to the OIO staff by community advocacy groups, and three were brought to the
attention of the office by legislators. The total number of individual cases referred to the

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OIO for the third quarter was 44; with 29 of the 44 were handled by the Austin Office.
The Assistant Ombudsman assigned to the Austin office had 14 cases referred to her
and documented 237 phone calls made or received to specifically address these 14
cases. These phone calls included calls made to and from attorneys, parents, the
youth, caseworkers and facility superintendents, Child Protective Services, the Office of
the Inspector General, the General Counsel of the TYC, the Release Review Panel,
TYC Medical Services, and advocacy groups.
Public Education
SB 103 requires the OIO to educate the public about the rights of youth
committed to the TYC. The Chief Ombudsman is regularly invited to make pub lic
presentations to advocacy groups, professional associations, and parents groups. He is
also invited to speak in academic forums and within TYC. The following are examples of
public education events at which the Chief Ombudsman presented during this quarter:
•
•
•
•

University of Houston Law Center, Center for Children, Law and Policy,
“7th Annual Zealous Advocacy Conference”
Junior State, “2008 Texas Symposium”
Texas Bar Association, Juvenile Law Section, “Special Education and
Juvenile Justice”
Texas Families of Incarcerated Youth, Quarterly Meeting

The OIO also organized an informational session and dialogue with 15 advocacy
and faith based organizations and the TYC Deputy Commissioners on June 19, 2008.

III.

Events and Trends Observed as a Result of Site Visits
Conducted by the Office of the Independent Ombudsman

Educational Services
As mentioned above, a substantial amount of time was spent by the
members of the OIO staff, assisted by Dr. Krezmien, gathering the data required
for our extensive review of educational services. During these trips to the various
facilities, certain problematic practices within the educational department became
apparent. The full report will be released shortly and will be available on the OIO
website.
It is important to note that the TYC Conservator fully supported this review
and Deputy Commissioner Dianne Gadow and her staff collaborated with this
office in our effort. This was expected since Deputy Commissioner Gadow is
nationally renowned for her work and expertise on the topic. Also, in his February
2008 publication Vision & Framework for the 21st Century Texas Youth
Commission, Nedelkoff stated the following reform priority:

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Enhance the TYC education system. This will be a centerpiece of the
reform framework considering the agency must address these facts: 40%
of youth at TYC are eligible for federal special education programming; a
significant portion of youth sent to TYC are school dropouts; and the
median reading and math achievement levels of TYC youth are four and
five years behind their peers, respectively.
Use of Force/OC Spray and the
Behavior Management Program/Redirect Program
Soon after the OIO was established, we raised concerns regarding the
use of OC spray and the over-reliance on the use of isolation. We are pleased to
report that the policies on both are in the process of revision. We are even more
pleased to announce that the practice has declined substantially. At the time of
the writing of this report, there are half as many youth on an isolation program as
there were at the beginning of this year. The most egregious isolation program
referred to as the Aggression Management Program (AMP) was discontinued in
April. There are also currently about half as many monthly OC spray incidents as
there were a year ago when we began to address the problem. We have
continuing concerns and still monitor, but the OIO believes that this trend
represents substantial progress.
Gender Parity
There continues to be substantial differences in the programming
and services offered to male youth and female youth. To address the concerns
raised by this office and several other groups, two members of the Treatment
and Case Management Department who are both Licensed Sex Offender
Treatment Providers have been taking turns traveling to the Ron Jackson Unit I
to ensure that female youth with high needs for Sex Offender Treatment and/or
Capital and Serious Violent Offender Treatment are able to receive services.
There are currently no Licensed Sex Offender Treatment Providers who are
employed at the Ron Jackson female unit.
This office met with the Director of Rehabilitation and Specialized
Treatment, David Walenta, to address the concerns about the lack of treatment
providers for the girls and discussed several concerns with the specialized
treatment throughout the agency. Mr. Walenta was receptive to concerns and
ensured that he and other members of TYC’s Executive Management Team
were evaluating several options to provide programming for the girls including
evaluating outside contract providers, moving the girls to another unit and having
the Ron Jackson Unit be an all-male unit, and continuing to travel on a bi-weekly
basis to Ron Jackson until a staff member becomes licensed to provide Sex
Offender Treatment.
The agency was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in
June, 2008. The specific allegations raised in that lawsuit concerning strip

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searches conducted at Ron Jackson had not ever been reported to the OIO or
observed by this office before the lawsuit was filed. The OIO provided Chairman
Madden with a detailed memorandum explaining that and we will provide copies
of that memo upon request.
A site visit by the OIO revealed that in the security unit, girls were not
allowed to wear undergarments (brassieres and underwear) even while on a
Behavior Management Program and were reportedly transported to the infirmary
and recreation by male staff while wearing no undergarments. The girls were
provided diapers to wear while menstruating if they were in the security unit.
Additionally, girls in security who were on BMP were not allowed to read books
other than the Bible. These issues along with the issue of searches were raised
by the Chief Ombudsman in a memorandum to the Superintendent, Teresa
Stroud, dated June 19, 2008. Within a week of the report, Ms. Stroud addressed
in writing each of these concerns to the satisfaction of the OIO.
Youth Extortion
After hearing recurring complaints by youth alleging occasional and even
patterns of youth e xtortion of other youth for food, we undertook an investigation
at the Al Price Unit and submitted a report to TYC on June 30, 2008. We intend
to take a closer look at this issue on other facilities.
It appears that there is a systemic problem with youth extorting other
youth for food at Al Price and the staff has not taken adequate steps to abate the
problem. At every facility we have heard of the occasional situation where a bully
youth steals food from weaker youth. But it appears that at Al Price there is an
entrenched pattern.
We interviewed staff and youth and a practice referred to on that campus
for a number of years as “Deebo” 2is notorious and on-going. “Deebo” is a
practice by which under duress a youth will agree to provide another youth with
food or canteen items whenever asked.
Every youth we spoke to about this believes it is simply a fact of life at Al
Price that you must “fight for what is yours”. Youth seem to accept that they have
but two choices at Al Price; “fight for your food or go o n Deebo”. Some youth
who are capable of fighting for their food do not do so because it could result in
an extension of their length of stay in TYC. They might opt to give in rather than
reporting the extortion to staff because if they do, they could be p laced on

2

Wikipedia describes the movie character after whom this practice is nicknamed as follows:
Deebo is the primary antagonist in the Friday movie series. He has a menacing appearance, and
every character expresses fear of Deebo, probably due to his continual violent and criminal
conduct.

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protective custody. Youth on protective custody are stigmatized as being weak or
worse, they are identified as “snitches” and therefore subject to retaliation.
Some youth choose to stay long periods in the security unit refusing to
leave so that they don’t have to subject themselves to this unfortunate scenario.
One youth interviewed has been in security for two months because he knows
he’ll have to fight if he goes to the dorm and that will make him stay longer. As he
put it:
I’m going home and I don’t care what they say. You can call me a peon,
but I’ll be home eating good food while you are still here trying to steal
food from your peers…It’s never gonna stop so I just stay in security so I
don’t have to worry about it…At least here I know I’ll wake up and my
shoes will still be by my bed.3
As it was explained to us, when a new kid shows up on a dorm, others will claim
him within moments or days of his arrival. Occasionally there is conflict between
youth attempting to claim the new youth. Whoever has a claim to the new youth
will ask them to “accept”. To accept means you will commit to giving up whatever
food is asked whenever it is asked of you. If you do not accept, a group of youth
will jump you when the opportunity presents itself. That us ually occurs on the
recreation yard or in the shower area. Also, youth will continually “run dome
shots” which is the act of hitting youth in the head with a closed fist when staff
can’t see as they pass the youth’s personal area.
If a youth initially “accepts” he can later get “off Deebo” by fighting. Also, if
a youth appears as though he might fight back or he actually does fight back, he
may avoid being placed on “Deebo” even if he doesn’t win the fight. One youth
explained that he was originally placed on “Deebo” on his first dorm and learned
from the experience. When he was moved to another dorm, he took the following
approach:
If you come in with your head down and stuff, they are gonna punk you.
You gotta mug up some and they might leave you alone.
The youth who has other youth “on Bo” or “Deebo” is referred to as a “Bo
Master”. A “Bo Master” can have a single youth or multiple youth (in some cases
as many as three) on “Deebo” or “on-Bo”. He can also take another youth “under
his wing”. Essentially “under the wing” is the same relationship but more of a
voluntary arrangement that will provide the weaker youth with certain protection.
Another term for this relationship is “protective custody” or “PC”. Youth can also
be “slick-bo” which means they do not openly acknowledge being on “Deebo” but
will sneak other youth minor food items for protection secretly or “on the down
low”.
3

This youth explained that if you fight for food, other youth will try to wear you down by stealing
your shoes and clothes while you sleep.

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Youth did acknowledge that some staff always try to intervene and other
staff do so when “Austin” is on the campus. But since the practice is so
entrenched, when staff try to separate “Bo-Masters” at meals from youth on
“Deebo”, they still pass food under the table, even if it involves three or more
youth passing the food from one to the other.
Some youth try to help their peers who are on “Deebo”. As one explained:
I’ll try to help (particular kid on Deebo who I will not name under a promise
of anonymity) ‘cause he’s my homie and I feel bad for him. He’s lost so
much weight you can see his spine. I’ll trade up with him. If they take his
meat and cake I’ll say hey, ‘you can have half of my meat and my cake if
you give me your beans’. They only really take the good stuff.
Another youth explained that:
The Bo-Master won’t try to starve a kid. They’ll take your food but leave
enough for you to get by. He might say I’m taking one of your hamburgers
but you can keep your lettuce and take my applesauce.
At the time of our interviews, youth we spoke to believed there was only one
dorm at Al Price that didn’t have anyone “on the Bo”. That’s not due to staff
interventions they claimed. It’s because there is no one on the dorm, Dorm 4 D,
that won’t fight. The worst dorms are 5B and 5D. According to youth, staff on
those dorms “don’t even care”. On 3A, there are 3 “Bo-Masters”. One has o ne
youth “on Bo” and one “under his wing”, another has 3 “on Bo” and the third has
one youth “on-Bo”.
If a youth is a bona fide member of the dominant gang on a dorm, he may
be spared “Deebo” but might have to “ride under somebody’s wing”. While all
races are subjected to this, white boys always get selected because they are
considered less likely to fight or to get protection.
Youth on “Deebo” must provide food when asked and that happens every
day at every meal and snack time. If you are on “Deebo”, you also might have to
give up canteen items such as shampoo and toothpaste. Some youth have
forfeited their food and canteen under this system for months or years.
Staff acknowledge that this has happened at Al Price by that name “for
years”. One youth told me when he arrived on a dorm, staff commented “Oh boy,
they are gonna get his food.” Youth explained that female staff are more likely to
intervene but male staff believe boys need to get tough and learn to fight.
Medical Services

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Far more medical service complaints have been brought to the OIO than were
anticipated. We have elected to make this a major focus of review over the next
few quarters. We have secured the assistance of attorney Meredith Martin
Rountree on a pro bono basis, to help the OIO evaluate medical services. This
week, Conservator Richard Nedelkoff granted OIO access to the Electronic
Medical Records system (“EMRs”) so that we can achieve our mandate to
evaluate medical service delivery and so that we can efficiently resolve individual
medical complaints that come to this office. Also, this office has begun meeting
with the TYC Medical Director and his principal staff bi-weekly to address
concerns.
The OIO is very concerned with what we identified as the disciplinary
denial of medication for youth caught “cheeking” medication. We brought that
concern to the attention of legislators, the TYC Conservator, and the TYC
medical director. We are hopeful that the issue is being addressed but have not
been able to monitor this practice due to a lack of access to EMR’s. As stated
above, this week we gained authorization to access that system and will begin
monitoring.
Another area which was of concern to the OIO was raised at a Medical
Concerns Committee after a site visit to the W.I.N.G.S. program located in
Marion, Texas. It was discovered that the girls assigned to the program who are
pregnant and/or parenting have one Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) assigned
to the Unit for 40 hours per week, who until March 2007, worked only in
Orthopedics. Girls housed at the Ron Jackson Unit and at Willoughby Halfway
House have access to Registered Nurses on those facilities. The girls assigned
to the W.I.N.G.S. program, by virtue of being pregnant as adolescents, are
considered high-risk pregnancies by the medical community and there are
concerns that the lack of medical training by facility staff places these girls and
their children (both born and unborn) at undue risk. The Medical Director and
Director of Nursing both agreed to provide for additional staff training and
oversight to ensure that these youth receive adequate medical care.

IV.

Recommendations to Improve the Effectiveness of TYC
and the OIO

The OIO Review of Educational Services an extensive evaluation of
education and special education across TYC. The OIO could never have
accomplished that without the help of Dr. Michael Krezmien who committed
substantial time during the past five months without compensation. In order to
continue securing the assistance of national experts such as Dr. Krezmien, and
indeed to be able to use him for continued monitoring of educational services in
TYC, the OIO will be approaching the agency, foundations, and the legislature for
funds that can be used to pay for their services and support the work of experts.

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While the OIO Review of Educational Services is a critical first step in
establishing a baseline for the level of educational services offered by TYC, there
is a statutory requirement and an ongoing need for the OIO to continue
monitoring these services to ensure that substantial changes in the delivery of
education occurs, and are maintained over time. In addition to educational
services, there are many other services offered to TYC youth which should be
evaluated for their effectiveness, quality, consistency, and level of importance to
stakeholders and to the rehabilitation and safety of TYC youth.
The OIO will be requesting that the legislature authorize additional funding for
the OIO to hire additional staff to monitor services to youth in institutions, halfway
houses and contract care programs specifically in the Southern and Western
regions of the state and to have the ability to house these additional staff in those
regions to facilitate contact with parents and youth and to monitor TYC services.
Better regional coverage will become increasingly essential as TYC regionalizes
and additional contract care programs are utilized.

IV.

Conclusion

This OIO report, like dozens of previous reports submitted to TYC and the
Legislature, points out several concerns regarding TYC operations. Indeed, that
is our statutory mandate. However, we embrace the goals laid out in the
Conservator’s Vision & Framework for the 21st Century Texas Youth Commission
and believe that Mr. Nedelkoff and his team are leading the agency in the right
direction. Our strongest recommendation is that TYC stay the course. We
recognize that meaningful reform does not occur in an instant.

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