Colorado’s juvenile detention centers lack important surveillance tools when determining whether staff justifiably use physical restraints on teens in their care, according to a new report issued Tuesday.
An issue brief from the Office of the Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman recommends the state’s Division of Youth Services add audio recordings, in addition to existing video, in order to fully evaluate encounters between staff and youth. Currently, state detention facilities only record images without any sound.
The ombudsman’s office received 47 reports of excessive force and staff misconduct this year — a 27% increase over last year.
“Youth living within Colorado’s DYS youth centers deserve to be kept safe,” the report states. “When they have concerns about their safety or how they are being treated, they have a right to have those complaints heard by an independent agency.”
The ombudsman’s office included several examples in which staff injured teens while physically restraining them. In written reports following the incident, staff said the youth made verbal threats or failed to follow commands.
But without audio, reviewers had no way to independently assess whether the restraint was justified, the brief notes.
“Until we have a full understanding of what’s happening in the field, we can’t possibly diagnose the problem — let alone the solution,” Stephanie Villafuerte, the state’s child protection ombudsman, said in an interview.
Teens told the office that they support improving surveillance systems in youth centers, saying they believe staff know the cameras’ blind spots. Youth also said staff use the lack of audio to make threats or intimidate them — actions that cannot be proven after the fact.
Between March 2023 and August 2023, 465 different teens experienced a restraint technique approximately 4,614 times, according to state data included in the brief. Black youth represented 38% of the restraints but only 23% of the centers’ population, a trend the report’s authors called “troubling.”
The report said the Division of Youth Services pushed back on making these changes. That’s far from the truth, said Anders Jacobson, the agency’s director.
“We are not opposed to audio surveillance,” he said Tuesday in an interview, adding that audio can help protect staff members in addition to youth.
Jacobson said the state has considered several options to add audio, including a type of stealthier body-worn camera that fits on a belt loop and is half the size of a cellphone. The problem, he said, is that the department doesn’t have the budget for it at this time.
“We will continue looking at funding opportunities that are available,” Jacobson said.
The ombudsman made several additional recommendations, including providing data on the number of restraints determined to be justified and unjustified. The report also requested the state count the number of times a youth sustains serious bodily injury during a restraint.
“This fix is very simple,” Villafuerte said. “This problem is solvable.”
Jacobson said the department is open to sharing additional data points. Overall, he said, the state is on the same page as the ombudsman, despite what he called an “antagonistic” issue brief.
“They want audio; we want audio,” he said. “They want to keep kids safe — so do we.”
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Originally Published: July 30, 2024 at 10:51 a.m.
