Harris County kids in TYC don't receive prescribed medications, treatment
For anybody who thought the Legislature has "fixed" problems at the
Texas Youth Commission, this story of what's happening with one
county's kids shows there's a lot of work left to be done. The Houston
Chronicle reports today ("Harris County monitor reports TYC failings,"
July 31) that
The probation officer responsible for monitoring how Harris County
juveniles are treated at Texas Youth Commission facilities said
Monday that some youths have been waiting as long as 18 months to
get into a sex offender program or have been released without
taking part in it.
She also said that about a third of Harris County youths who have
been prescribed drugs to curb hyperactivity or treat mental illness
have not been receiving proper medication at TYC facilities.
Blame for failure to receive proper medications falls on UTMB, the
university hospital system responsible inmate healthcare at TYC and in
adult prisons. But UTMB's failures don't justify an 18-month wait to
get into court-mandated sex offender treatment. Such lack of required
programming means youth must remain in TYC much longer than necessary
for no other reason than the state's failure to provide court-mandated
services.
Moynahan only monitors outcomes for Harris County kids in TYC, but
there's little reason to suspect others aren't suffering the same
difficulties. I for one am tired of hearing pols brag about what they
did to "fix" TYC. I want to hear them discussing the myriad problems
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