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Arkansas prosecutor blasts juvenile detention facility |
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Sunday, 23 October 2005 19:00 |
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A bizarre collaboration between a mother and court officials to "scare" a 10-year old girl ended with the child being assaulted by another girl in an Arkansas juvenile detention center.
Now deputy prosecutor Connie Mitchell is calling for immediate reform of the facility, exposing a long-running failure to improve abusive conditions. According to the Texarkana Gazette, the girl was sent to the Lantz Lurry Juvenile Detention Center at the request of her mother. "What really concerns me is sending that little girl out here for scare tactics," said detention center administrator Joann Smith. "The mother was in court and insisted she (the girl) should be locked up. We just had to do something the prosecutor and the judge's order was for six days." According to the report, other children were subjected to incarceration as well. "That day we had three kids from the same family sent over here and they all were crying and screaming. They were also threatening suicide." The incident prompted an explosion from Miller County deputy prosecutor, Connie Mitchell. "Though I cannot instruct you on the management of the juvenile detention center," Mitchell wrote to adminstrator Smith, "I highly recommend you get your house in order.... This most recent incident completely destroys my faith in the ability of JDC to protect these kids during their rehabilitation process. Therefore, until my concerns regarding the health, safety and security of these kids are addressed, I will not recommend any child be placed in JDC." We do not know if Mitchell or her office was responsible for sending the children to the facility in the first place, but our thanks go out to her for finally getting the attention of a criminally negligent court system.
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