Faith leaders want Dallas County’s “broken” juvenile justice system dismantled, transformed and rebuilt on the heels of findings from a yearlong state probe that revealed children in the county’s care were unlawfully secluded for days.
The Dallas Black Clergy for Safety, Equity and Justice reissued demands to Juvenile Department leaders and members of its oversight board at a news conference Tuesday afternoon outside the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center. Their demands included a third-party review of the Juvenile Department, swift accountability, community input in selecting the agency’s next director and meetings with all members of the Juvenile Board.
Clergy members described the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center as a “house of horrors” where “children are treated worse than dogs.” Kids with disciplinary problems at McNeil Detention Center, which is in Henry Wade, were kept in isolation for as long as five days, without access to an education, exercise, outdoor recreation or showers, state inspectors found.
The Dallas Morning News obtained a seven-page executive summary Monday of the investigation by the Office of the Inspector General at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The full report — more than 100 pages — has not been released.
“Every single judge, every single elected office, and every staff person complicit in harming our children, complicit in ignoring their calls for help, complicit in the cover-up and negligent in their duty to ensure the safety and well-being of our children must be held accountable,” said Michael W. Waters, founder of Abundant Life AME Church.
Waters added: “It’s time to clean house.”
The group charged members of the Juvenile Board — the nine-person body that oversees the county’s juvenile justice system — to consider resigning and called for staff who falsified documents to cover up mistreatment of youths to be fired and prosecuted. Waters did not name specific members of the Juvenile Board he believes should step down, saying “everything now is on the table.”
“I don’t think anyone who has stood silent as our children have suffered should remain in any place of authority and power in overlooking the care of our children going forward,” Waters said.
Michael Griffiths, interim director of the Juvenile Department, showed up at the tail end of the news conference and attempted to interject as Waters took questions from reporters. Waters reprimanded Griffiths, saying, “this is our interview … and we will reach out to you at an appropriate time.” Griffiths was then peppered with questions by clergy and media.
Waters said advocates and Griffiths will meet soon.
“The system does not need to be torn down and rebuilt,” Griffiths said. “There’s parts of it that certainly needed attention and that attention is being done right now.”
Griffiths said the inhumane conditions outlined in the report have been corrected. Griffiths said his department is conducting an investigation into the report’s findings, including allegations that staff falsified or lacked records.
“On my watch, this is taken very seriously and the investigations are ongoing and action is being taken for employees that engaged in illegal conduct,” he said. He added, “I know this [Juvenile Board], I know they care very deeply about these children.”
Children in the discontinued special needs unit spent nearly all day, for as long as five days, inside their cells, state inspectors found. Detention staff lied on observation sheets, or status checks, seemingly to cover up the mistreatment, according to the report and county leaders. Of children who went through the special needs unit from January to June 2023, 176 of 191 observation sheets were missing, or about 92%.
The report “tells the story of systemic and systematic abuse,” said Kwesi Kamau, lead pastor at Impact Church DFW. John Fullinwider, a longtime Dallas activist and co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality, said the problems in the Juvenile Department are “perennial.”
The program, which circumvented due process and juvenile justice best practices, began in 2009 and was disbanded in August 2023, the report noted.
Griffiths served as the Juvenile Department’s executive director from 1995 to 2010 and oversaw the creation of the program. He oversaw the special needs unit’s creation and said it was intended to provide youth with therapy and “clinical intervention.”
The report says the intent of the unit was “unclear” and subject to multiple changes over the years. When Griffiths returned as director for seven months in 2018, he said he was not aware of what the special needs unit had devolved into.
The Dallas Black Clergy for Safety, Equity and Justice held a news conference at the detention center in July, raising issues about the facility’s cleanliness, poor hygiene for kids in the county’s custody, limited access to education and insufficient time outside.
In response, then-executive director Darryl Beatty denied the group’s allegations. Beatty resigned weeks later after an unannounced state inspection. DeAndra Jones, a deputy director who oversaw the detention center, also quit.
State inspectors said allegations about unclean showers were unfounded and could not confirm reports of unwashed bed sheets or children suffering from rashes because of lack of hygiene.
Beatty has not returned messages seeking comment since the executive summary was released Monday.
A court coordinator for Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon, chair of the Juvenile Board, said Shannon was in court but would be available to comment later Tuesday. Just after 4 p.m., her court coordinator said the judge was unavailable for an interview.
The release of the executive summary Monday marks the conclusion of the Office of the Inspector General’s investigation that began last summer. A second investigation, which began in July based on “reports alleging continuing supervisory neglect” at the detention facility, remained pending Tuesday.
The clergy group pledged it will continue to voice and amplify its concerns until long-lasting change is achieved.
Staff writer Chase Rogers contributed to this article.
