Select Committee on TYC Meets Thursday

The Joint Select Committee on Operation & Management of Texas Youth Commission meets for the first time on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Room E1.036.

Stories and media reports, like this in the New York Times, continue to highlight deplorable and unacceptable conditions at our state's juvenile facilities. According to Rep. Jerry Madden (R-Richardson) the committee's first meeting will serve mainly to ensure that all the agencies now involved in the clean up remain coordinated. We are expecting testimony from TYC Special Master Jay Kimbrough, State Auditor John Keel, TYC Executive Director Ed Owens, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle as well as a representative from the Attorney General. The committee is expected to also hear testimony from the Texas Ranger who filed the February 2005 report on alleged abuse of inmates at the Pyote facility.

Our office is working closely with Chairman Madden on legislation that we all hope will serve as the vehicle for structural reform of the TYC.

On a personal note, I have received a number of calls from guards and former employees at the TYC who first began a dialogue with me and my office in the later part of 2005. The recent spotlight on the TYC has brought a sense of relief to many who have stuck it out under conditions many of them have objected to for some time. Their complaints, once dismissed as "isolated incidents" by some, no longer appear to those of "disgruntled employees" nor do they appear to be isolated.

There will be a live broadcast of the committee hearing. Click Here

The Monitor has more.