|
Tuesday, 29 August 2006 20:28 |
SWANNANOA ÇƒÓ Gov. Mike Easley last Friday ordered a State Bureau of Investigation probe of the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center, a training school for male youth offenders, many of whom have been convicted of violent crimes.
A day earlier, Buncombe County District Attorney Ron
Moore, who called for a local investigation, announced that he is
demanding information about unreported assaults at the center. He also
criticized the prisonës leadership for not reporting assaults.
Easleyës and Mooreës actions came after at least five assaults on center employees in a 10 -day period through last Thursday.
The governor said that he and Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary
George Sweat believe an SBI probe is the best way to find out what is
going on at the facility. Easley added that the problems cannot be
solved without first ascertaining what they are.
Whatës more, Moore, local elected officials and Sweat are scheduled to
meet at noon today at the prison to discuss the assaults and what
actions need to be taken.
Meanwhile, Moore is seeking a court order if center administrators fail
to voluntarily turn over a yearës worth of documents on attacks on
teachers and other incidents of violence.
Moore noted that he expects his office and law enforcement to be
informed when serious assaults occur at the juvenile prison, after
which he will decide whether criminal charges will be filed.
Rarely, he said, is he informed of attacks at the prison, except when
employees there contact him. Indeed, Moore noted that an employee
contacted him about the Aug. 16 beating of 63-year-old teacher John
Thomas Donohue by two inmates.
Donohue, who suffered head injuries in the attack, was treated and
released at Mission Hospitals in Asheville. However, he reportedly
suffered brain injury in the assault and he still is home awaiting test
results to show the extent of the damage. The center bans employees
from talking to the news media, so Donohue is prevented from discussing
the attack.
Moore also lamented that prison employees must inform him secretly
because officials at the center want to handle discipline matters
internally.
Center Director June Fowler has stated in the past that disciplining
inmates through the court system is "not necessarily productive."
She also reportedly said recently that she has never needed to call
outside law enforcement since taking the helm at the center in October
2005. The prisonës police force has dwindled to one officer for the 48
inmates.
However, in response to Mooreës request last week, she reportedly has
vowed to cooperate with the review of the Donohue attack as well as
other violent incidents over the past year, including an attack in
which Eugene Fletcher Smith III, an employee, was injured last
Thursday. Smith was transported for medical treatment.
In the aftermath, Matthew Lee Bloodworth, 17, was charged with assault
on a government employee, using his fist, as well as biting and kicking
him. Bloodworth was also charged with simple assault on another student
by hitting him in the head with his fist. He was being held under a
$75,000 bond at the Buncombe County Detention Facility.
Folwler reportedly plans to create a written protocol for violent
incidents detailing when to contact law enforcement and how to document
assaults.
Police were not called in for the Aug. 16 assault or for attacks on the staff a day earlier.
In addition, Moore has asked the detective investigating the assault
for the Buncombe County Sheriffës Department to determine any response
to any other violence there in the past year.
In a related development, six police officers were sent to the center
by the state government last Friday to provide the largest security
presence in years. Reportedly, three or four of the new officers are
women ÇƒÓ and none are sworn police officers. However, all are trained in
unarmed self-defense.
Rep. Wilma Sherrill, R-Buncombe, noted last Thursday that Easleyës
office had told her that the officers would be posted at the prison,
although she was not informed from where they would come. Further, she
stated that the posting is a temporary solution and that a permanent
plan to handle security at the prison needs to be devised.
|
