Help before tragedy strikes
Joe Renna
I read the article "Blueprint of a Boondoggle" in the Metro section of the May 9th issue of your paper with an eerie trepidation. The article can easily have been written about the Juvenile Detention Center run by the County of Union in New Jersey. The only difference is that the article is reporting on a facility that has been built. The County of Union has just started putting their plan on the fast track. Like the Connecticut situation, it took the suicide death of a seventeen year old inmate to force the move.
Edward Sinclair Jr. was put in the Union County Juvenile Detention Center because he failed to meet with his probation officer. He was convicted of stealing a bike. Sinclair was guilty but the punishment did not fit the crime. The conditions at the detention center are cruel. For reasons he took with him, the 17 year old Sinclair hung himself while in custody. The state is investigating the conditions that led to his death and has stepped up efforts to force Union County to abide by their order to remedy the problems in the center.
The neglect and mismanagement of the detention center have been documented for years. The county has dragged its feet in complying state's directives to fix the problems. Even in the wake of Sinclair's death, the state still must pressure the county to act responsibly.
Up to 55 juveniles were routinely kept in cells meant for no more than 34. The teens, mostly 14- to 17-year-olds, were crowded three to a cell for 18 to 20 hours at a time. Children as young as 12-years old reported being cold, hungry, sexually abused, beaten and kept filthy, showering only once a week. Sinclair hung himself in a cell that the Juvenile Justice Commission had determined to be a blatant suicide hazard.
The political climate in Union County is such that the boondoggle similar to that in Connecticut is inevitable. This is evident by looking at the new county jail for adults that is riddled with construction flaws which are dangerous and has caused harm to both the inmates and correction officers. The reason these problems exist is because no bid contracts are awarded with little emphasis given to supervision. Shoddy construction and cost overruns are common to the majority of county projects.
All nine elected officials on the Board of Freeholders are Democrats. They have been the dominant force in Union County Government for ten years and based on the demographics of the county, they are confident that they will never be unseated.
Without a checks-and-balance system the county has the opportunity to wheel and deal, and does. Traditionally, the county enters into no-bid contracts with campaign contributors and is submissive to the contractors demands. The county's lack of oversight has caused a number of projects to run into problems that were financial and ecological tragedies. Problems with the Juvenile Detention Center will result in human tragedy.
Your article did raise a glimmer of hope in me. I wonder if your exposé would have prevented the misdeeds if it had been written prior to the facility being built. The government would have acted more diligently under scrutiny. In hind sight, it would have been less costly and more effective if the federal government stepped in as a preventive measure to investigate compliance with contracting safeguards before construction instead of afterwards. It is too late for this to happen with the Connecticut facility but it's not too late in Union County.
What I am suggesting defeats the purpose of the role of the county officials. They are elected or appointed to do exactly what I am proposing, but, as in the case of the Connecticut Youth Home, they have already demonstrated that they are derelict of their duties. Having already violated the public's trust in the operation of the present facility makes the argument for preventive intervention by a higher authority.
The onus usually falls on the public's shoulders, who have been woefully ineffective in influencing change. The press can be effective in reporting on developments but that is after the fact. This County administration is so secure in knowing that they will retain power that they are not rattled by criticism in the press.
The county makes overtures to remedy problems but they immediately fade after the election. They have been under scrutiny by the sate for six years. It would be shameful to see a service as important as juvenile detention and rehabilitation be mismanaged. The cost is too great.