Time For Change: Head of NY Juvenile Prisons is Listening to Teens

New York’s juvenile prisons have been counted among the worst in the world by some juvenile justice advocacy groups. The practices used in these facilities came under special scrutiny in 2006, after an emotionally disturbed 15-year-old boy died following a physical struggle with staff in which they pinned him to the ground. Then, last year, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a shocking report that revealed terrible conditions in four of the state’s 28 juvenile prisons: Staff had broken kids’ bones and knocked out teeth while trying to restrain them. They also reported that there was little real care for teens with mental illnesses and drug addictions. And in December, a subsequent state report said these conditions were common across the entire system.