Lawsuit: Polk County, Florida Sheriff

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit on Wednesday March 21, 2012 against “Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, alleging children in the county’s jail system are improperly supervised and routinely mistreated.”

It was filed on behalf of the parents of “seven youths, ages 15 to 17, and outlines abuses they allegedly suffered from October to March.

In October, Polk County began housing offenders facing juvenile charges in a separate wing of the adult jail. That was possible because of a bill spearheaded by Judd and passed by the state Legislature last year that allows counties to hold juveniles awaiting trial in the adult jail, as long as they’re separated from adult inmates.”

“The SPLC said that while other jails in Florida have taken over the pretrial detention of juveniles, Polk is the only county to apply adult jail standards to their treatment.

“Polk county jail staff have no expertise in dealing with children and treat them as they were adults,” SPLC managing attorney Tania Galloni said.

Judd said at a news conference Wednesday he looks forward to putting the SPLC “in their place.”

“We are going to show the information they provided is erroneous (and), in many cases, it’s fiction,” he said. “In a lot of cases, they took advantage of people.”

Judd said the county houses the young inmates for less money and offers a better facility and services than the state Department of Juvenile Justice. Youths are segregated from the adult population and supervised by specially trained detention deputies.

“The allegations they put in the lawsuit defy logic,” he said. “The bottom line is that the allegations are a tool to get the lawsuit in the courts. They just don’t believe we should do this, and that’s just too bad. It’s legal and we are housing them safer and meeting all the standards and saving taxpayers millions of dollars.”

But Galloni said children being held at the jail “are largely left to fend for themselves with no meaningful adult supervision.”

As a result, she said, juvenile inmates are left at risk for physical assaults, and correctional officers routinely taunt them and use pepper spray as punishment. Suicidal youth are forced to strip naked in front of other children and are isolated in a cell for 23 hours a day, she said.

“All children in Sheriff Grady Judd’s custody are deprived of the education, individualized treatment and rehabilitation services that are reasonably calculated to help youth make positive life decisions once they are released from custody,” the lawsuit said.”

Civil rights group sues Polk sheriff over treatment of juveniles in jail
[Bay News 9 3/21/12 by Dalia Dangerfield]

“The lawsuit comes after Florida lawmakers last spring passed SB 2112, which allows counties to place children as young as eight years old in adult jails.

The class-action lawsuit describes how guards brutalize children by spraying them with harsh chemicals for even minor infractions, such as taking too long to get dressed. Children also are subjected to physical and verbal abuse by guards, including a recent incident where a guard twisted a teenager’s arm behind his back and threatened to break it. The lawsuit also describes how the sheriff fails to provide these youth with adequate educational and rehabilitative services.

“This lawsuit illustrates that children simply do not belong in adult jails,” said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for the SPLC’s Florida office.

“Sheriff Grady Judd promised to save tax money by housing children in the county’s adult jail. But any savings he has generated has come at the children’s expense,” Galloni said. “It’s easy to run a jail on the cheap when you scrimp on staffing, create abusive conditions and deny children the services to which they are entitled under federal law.”

Judd began housing children at the facility in October 2011, shortly after state legislation was passed that allows county commissions to place children charged as juveniles in adult jails. Though more than 75 percent of the youth arrested in Polk County are charged only with misdemeanors or probation violations, the sheriff has housed over 100 children, some as young as eight years old, in the Polk County Jail. Guards have no expertise on how to work with children.

Polk County is the only county in Florida so far to detain youth charged as juveniles under jail standards rather than Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) standards. Judd’s treatment of children in his care exemplifies how SB 2112 has reversed more than 40 years of juvenile justice efforts to create protections for children that adult jails cannot provide.

“Rather than look after these kids, the guards at the jail call the children names, let them get into fights, lock them up in small cages, and spray them with mace. It’s unbelievable,” said Lisa Jobe, whose 15-year-old son is currently being held in the Polk County jail. “I see how difficult this is for my son. Being in the adult jail is beating him down, and I worry about how this will affect him in the future. He has so much life ahead of him.”

Decades of research shows that exposing children to adult jails leads to more crime, not less. Based on this research, states around the country have passed legislation prohibiting the placement of children in adult jails. Florida legislators bucked this promising trend when they passed a law that could funnel more children into adult jails throughout the state of Florida.

“The abuse suffered by the children of Polk County should serve as a cautionary tale for counties throughout the state of Florida that are considering housing children in adult jails.” Galloni said. “This lawsuit demonstrates that incarcerating children in adult jails is bad public policy that inflicts incalculable harm on children, results in negative public safety outcomes and exposes taxpayers to tremendous legal liability.”
Southern Poverty Law Center Files Lawsuit Against Polk County Sheriff to End Abuse of Children at Jail
[Southern Poverty Law website 3/21/12]

The lawsuit can be seen in a 25-page pdf here.

Excerpts:

Page 3 “6. Polk County Jail staff frequently curse at the children in their care, including by using the racial slur “n*gger” and telling children that they do not give a f*ck about them. Staff have referred to the girls housed at the Polk County Jail as “little b*tches.”

7. The United States Department of Justice has concluded that children housed in adult jails are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than children housed in a juvenile detention facility.3 Like many adult facilities that house children, the Polk County Jail responds to children who manifest an intent to harm themselves with cruelty and deliberate indifference. Sheriff Grady Judd’s employees force children who need suicide protections to strip naked in view of their peers and then wear a “suicide suit” a short, sleeveless garment that leaves children’s bodies exposed. These children are then placed in the “cage”—a kennel-like structure that is empty with the exception of a hard, wooden bench. These children are deprived of adequate mental health care and are prohibited from participating in education, recreation or from communicating with their families .

3 McGowan, A., Hahn, R., et.al., Effects on Violence and Laws and Policies Facilitating the Transfer of Juveniles from the Juvenile Justice System to the Adult Justice System: A Systematic Review. 32 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE, No.4 Supplement, 2007 at S7-S28.”

Page 10: “45. Despite state and federal requirements to provide education, children are offered inadequate educational services. Rather than provide an appropriate education, Defendants lump children of different ages and grades together in a makeshift classroom at the jail, without any regard to a child’s individual learning needs.

46. Children are often forced to eat in their cells, where their toilets are located. These toilets are rarely cleaned; to clean the toilet, the children must use the shower soap they receive for their personal hygiene. “

Page 12 and 13: “58. Guards routinely use these dangerous chemical agents to punish children—not to maintain a secure environment or prevent harm. Defendants allow their employees to spray children with chemicals that cause an excruciating burning sensation and difficulty breathing as punishment for perceived minor rule violations, including for failing to follow orders that do not implicate facility security, and for engaging in behavior guards deem annoying like singing or not moving quickly enough to get dressed.

59. When there are fights, guards indiscriminately spray children in the area with chemical agents—including children not involved in the fight, children who have stopped fighting, children who have already been disabled, and children the Sheriff’s Office has described as the victim of the fight. “

62. Defendant Judd has claimed publicly that the use of chemical agents against children at the Polk County Jail is “rare.” In fact, since October 2011, Sheriff’s guards have used pepper spray punitively against several children charged as juveniles, including S.R., A.M., M.C.1, M.C.2, D.J., D.G., J.D., , and Plaintiffs K.J. and J.P., and against several children charged as adults, including L.M., D.M., S.W., J.C., M.H., and Plaintiffs K.J. and B.G.

63. In October 2011, for example, S.W. was among several children who were pepper sprayed following a fight, even though S.W. was not among those fighting. After S.W. was disabled by the chemical agent, which made his eyes burn and took his breath away, he tried to crawl on the floor to the shower to wash it off, but a guard sprayed him again.

64. In January 2012, guards pepper sprayed six children following a fight, including Plaintiff J.P., whom the Sheriff’s Office has described as the victim of the fight. ”

Page 14: “65. In January 2012, D.D., one of the incarcerated girls witnessed guards pepper spray a mentally ill girl on suicide watch for sitting on a table instead of on her bed and refusing to move to her bed when told, leaving her crying and screaming in pain.

66. In March 2012, M.H. was pepper sprayed after manifesting an intent to hang himself by his sheet.

67. Children at the jail, including B.G., J.D., D.G. and K.J., have been pepper sprayed simply for failing to follow an order such as to move from one area to another or to cease singing. ”

Pages 15 and 16/ the “cage” : “72. On February 10, 2012, Plaintiff B.G. was placed in a “cage” for suicide watch after telling a nurse that he felt depressed. When questioned by the nurse as to why he felt depressed, B.G. told her it was because he had been incarcerated for so long. The nurse asked if he ever had suicidal thoughts. B.G. responded that sometimes he thought about what life would be like if he were not present. The nurse replied that she probably had no choice but to put B.G. on suicide watch, which meant moving him to the cage. B.G. was not offered any mental health counseling or services.

73. The cage is a box-like enclosure made with metal grates on all sides. It is empty, except for a narrow hard bench against one side.

74. While in the cage, which is visible to other youth, B.G. was made to strip naked and put on a suicide gown, known in the jail as a “turtle suit.” The experience was humiliating and degrading.

75. B.G. was allowed nothing but a mat approximately one-inch thick. To use the bathroom, he had to ask a guard for permission and be transported to another area of the facility. He was not allowed to keep his eyeglasses, which he wears all the time.

76. B.G. remained in the cage until February 13, 2012. During this entire time, no medical personnel met with him. B.G. passed the time by singing to himself. Until another youth was placed in a nearby cage, he was not able to have contact with other children other than brief conversations as they walked by where he was caged. Guards brought his food to the cage and left it for him to eat alone. ”

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