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Dallas County commissioners will meet in a special session Monday to discuss their lack of access to records that could shed light on whether children are spending too much time in solitary confinement.
Dallas County Commissioner Andrew Sommerman requested the meeting after the county’s own juvenile justice authorities repeatedly denied him access to the “observation sheets” that state where a child is and for how long they are in the location kept by the Dallas County Juvenile Department.
Sommerman, who was appointed to serve on the Dallas County Juvenile Board in April after Commissioner John Wiley Price was voted off of it, said that there is credible evidence based on interviews with children, parents, attorneys and staff that children are being kept for too long in solitary confinement. He wants to verify these claims by accessing the observation sheets.
The Dallas County juvenile justice system has been under scrutiny after a report found serious problems including that children can wait an average of 140 days for their cases to be resolved, regardless of the severity of the offense or risk of reoffending. In more than half of these cases, a judge eventually grants probation.
After the report spotlighted systemic failures in their juvenile justice system, Dallas County officials have publicly promised a system overhaul.
Sommerman said requests for the observation sheets have been denied three times, including when it was agreed that the minors’ names could be redacted.
“I think, and I am certain, that we as a commissioners court could obtain this information,” said Sommerman. “The purpose of the special session is to get these records. I am going to ask that we have a resolution or a court order.”
Sommerman said he has heard of cases of children spending about 22 hours in solitary confinement.
“Some of our challenges clearly are the lack of staff to manage children at times, and we have been locking these children up in solitary confinement essentially there because there weren’t enough people there to do the care that is required by the law and what is appropriate,” said Jenkins.
Officials at the Dallas County Juvenile Department did not return a phone call or reply to an emailed request for comment.
Price was skeptical of having a special season and argued that suing to obtain the documents might be a roadblock.
“A special session? I am still looking for authority when I look at the TJJD (Texas Juvenile Justice Department), that we, as an agency, as a local government entity have the ability to do anything other than appropriate facility, staff, and certified facilities,” said Price.
Commissioner Price said the board went through a similar process about 10 months ago and could not get some information.
“We weren’t successful in that adventure because it was juvenile,” said Price.
But Commissioner Elba Garcia said that the Commissioners Court should do everything possible to provide better conditions for children.
“If we have children in solitary confinement for more than 24 hours, shame on us. We desperately need changes to the Dallas Juvenile System,” Garcia said.
The Dallas County juvenile system sends more children to the detention center than any other Texas county detention centers. Many children locked up in the detention center are assessed to be low-level risk to re-offend.
Related:How bad is juvenile justice in Dallas? This report has a lot to say
In most other counties, these children would have received probation, rather than wait in the detention center for a decision. About 64% of the time, a Dallas County juvenile judge will release them back into the community after weeks — sometimes months — of waiting in the detention center.
Once locked up, these Dallas County children languish for longer than elsewhere. The report found that while national court associations recommend that 75% of Dallas’ children in detention centers have their case resolved within 30 days, only 1% of Dallas cases are resolved that quickly.
District Attorney John Creuzot has said the long wait for juveniles in detention is due to the fact that the juvenile court system is flooded with cases, because so few children are diverted to probation, rehabilitation or alternative programs.