Giving Compass' Take:
- Adilia Watson draws attention to the sexual abuse allegations against staff members of multiple New York juvenile facilities.
- What can donors and funders do to support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, centering the voices of those most vulnerable, such as incarcerated people?
- Learn more about key issues in criminal justice and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on criminal justice in your area.
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All nine of New York's juvenile facilities are monitored 24-7 by video surveillance systems. Staff, youth, contractors, and volunteers undergo background checks and receive annual training on the prevention, detection, and appropriate response to sexual abuse and harassment. Multiple external authorities investigate claims of sexual assault, and routine audits are conducted each year, in accordance with a national mandate to end rape in prisons.
But this year, a youth support specialist and a psychologist have appeared in court on charges of sexually abusing teenagers housed in New York juvenile facilities who they were being paid to care for. In April, a psychologist working at the Brookwood Secure Center in the town of Claverack was arrested on 65 counts of alleged sexual assault and rape. She has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and faces civil litigation over similar allegations, which she has also denied. She is set to appear in criminal court in late August.
In December, a youth support specialist at Long Island’s Brentwood Residential Facility for girls pleaded guilty to the second-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl.
Human rights advocates have long sought better protection from sexual assault for the nation’s incarcerated population. And in 2003, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, known as PREA, which applied to all prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities.
Final standards did not become effective until 2012, with mandated audits beginning the following year. Since then, New York juvenile facilities have been required to have written policies “mandating zero tolerance toward all forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment and outlining the agency’s approach to preventing, detecting, and responding to such conduct.”
Annual reports on sexual abuse in New York juvenile facilities overseen by New York’s Office of Children and Family Services show that overall, the state facilities meet or exceed the dozens of federal monitoring standards. They require, in part: proper backgrounding of staff, prevention strategies, robust reporting processes, data collection, discipline of perpetrators, and screening for risks of sexual victimization.
Read the full article about sexual abuse in juvenile facilities by Adilia Watson at The Imprint.