Executive's rehiring reveals troubles at Arkansas youth lockup; records speak of drug use, kids’ dayslong punishments

The Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility houses up to 32 youths, ages 18 to 20, typically sex offenders and those who’ve committed serious offenses under the supervision of the state Division of Youth Services.
The Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility houses up to 32 youths, ages 18 to 20, typically sex offenders and those who’ve committed serious offenses under the supervision of the state Division of Youth Services.

The director of an often troubled Arkansas youth prison was fired in November and rehired in February to help oversee a different lockup -- a decision that unearthed long-standing problems at the state-run facility.

Problems cited in emails and other state records show illicit drug use among child inmates, unsafe conditions, improper punishment of teens and chaos because of poor supervision.

Brian Gary, who ran the Dermott Juvenile Correctional Facility between November 2017 and November 2018, was fired Nov. 20 by the Division of Youth Services, personnel records show.

Gary's termination letter said he was fired for his "failure to exercise good judgment" after officials learned that the lockup needlessly confined kids for three days and that Gary didn't report that his staff discovered marijuana in youths' living quarters.

The Department of Human Services, which oversees the Youth Services Division, rehired Gary on Feb. 13, this time as an assistant director of a youth lockup in Mansfield, agency personnel records show.

According to state policy, he shouldn't have been eligible for rehire for at least two years after his "involuntary termination." Department representatives didn't tell the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette why the agency broke policy.

"It was heartbreaking to see" how kids were treated at the Dermott youth lockup, said Brooke Digby, the state's juvenile ombudsman, in a Feb. 22 email to agency officials.

Gary "failed to provide adequate leadership and communication while managing Dermott," her email stated. "I am worried [his rehiring] may impact Mansfield. ... Mansfield has had quite a few problems lately, and strong leadership will be necessary to help turn things around."

After his termination, Gary defended his management of the Dermott lockup in an undated letter to agency officials.

Noting an inspection by a Youth Services staff member, he wrote that "a one-day visit does not tell the whole story of what a facility is doing or not doing."

"It is easy to say what should be done if you are not the one who has to do it," he wrote.

"In the past eight or nine months, I know for a fact that improvement was made and that the program was moving in a positive direction. ... My termination was unfair and sad."

Gary's personnel file and agency emails pertaining to his time at Dermott reveal that state officials were also worried about what was going on at the youth prison, including drug use, how the staff interacted with youths and a lack of educational opportunities for the children. The personnel file and emails were obtained through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request.

School was optional, and kids were studying for General Educational Development certificates with decades-old books, Digby told the division staff in a Nov. 30 email. The GED teacher only worked in the mornings, leaving kids without anything to do all afternoon, she said. Digby is employed by the Public Defender's Commission, which is separate from the Youth Services Division.

"These boys are used to going into their rooms and sleeping all day, they are used to refusing all together, they are used to putting themselves on lockdown to avoid interactions with others," Digby said in the email. "It's how they adapted to the environment they've been living in."

Guards bribed child inmates with food to keep them silent about the poor conditions they lived in and punished them with dayslong timeouts for breaking minor rules, she also said.

"I wish you could've seen their faces when I told them they would no longer be going into lockdowns for three days at a time," Digby said in the email. "This has been happening so much ... for anything and everything. It was like Christmas!

"They are angry at staff, don't trust anyone, and feel like there is no hope to get back home," she continued.

"I have recently been made aware of some, but definitely not all, of the sentiments expressed in your email," Keesa Smith, a Human Services Department deputy director, replied to Digby. "We are working on addressing these, but the feedback regarding the GED aspect is concerning."

In an interview for a previous article, agency spokesman Amy Webb said Dermott recently added additional educational programs "to keep the youth busy, engaged and learning," including student council, book clubs and resume writing classes.

In her February email, Digby also recalled her 2018 visits to the Dermott facility, where she learned that hygienic supplies, time to shower and basic clothing items, such as underwear and shoes, were taken away as a form of punishment.

Youths also didn't receive proper medical treatment, often going days without help despite fevers, symptoms of strep throat or a staph infection, her email said.

On Wednesday, Webb said the department's response to Digby's concerns "was to take personnel action against Mr. Gary, as such behavior would not be acceptable."

The agency had hired Gary as Dermott's facility director because of his "good track record and support in the community" during his tenure at the Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center, Webb said.

Gary worked at the Mansfield lockup as an assistant director between April 2006 and December 2016, according to his personnel file.

At the time, the Mansfield and Dermott youth prisons were managed by South Arkansas Youth Services, a Magnolia-based nonprofit that's now shut down. The department took over the sites in January 2017.

"We received positive feedback about his work initially," Webb added. "It became clear that Mr. Gary did not have the skill sets necessary to be in a director position. His role now at Mansfield is a demotion, and there is oversight provided by the director of that facility. He is over operations. A separate person will be in charge of treatment and direct care staff."

TELLING EMAILS

State officials were concerned about contraband, including illegal drugs, guards' negative interactions with youths and poor facility conditions while Gary was in charge at Dermott, agency emails show.

A July 23 email from a Human Services Department employee to Gary said a youth tested positive for marijuana and that the inmate claimed he got the marijuana from a Dermott guard.

In the email, the department employee said he was "skeptical of his claims" because the boy was previously at a county-run juvenile detention center and "could very well [have] obtained the substances there."

In an Aug. 16 email, a state employee told April Hannah, a division deputy director, that Gary suspended a Dermott guard for a week without pay for punching a window in the youths' living quarters. That guard still has his job, according to the state's online personnel database.

The same email also mentioned that agency officials "smelled a loud scent of weed coming from the dorm" during an inspection and that they believed at least one guard was allowing kids to smoke.

Hannah replied that day: "I need you to determine why the dorm smells like weed. A thorough dorm search needs to occur ASAP."

In a series of emails shared among state officials and dated Sept. 18, a mother whose child was at Dermott raised concerns about his access to contraband, including a cellphone, marijuana and pills.

She worried that such things were "making him worse, not better," according to the emails.

Those emails were exchanged among Smith, then-division director Betty Guhman, Hannah and other division directors.

The son's girlfriend had a Dermott employee sneak in the cellphone, Hannah said in one of the emails.

The mother also said a female guard asked her "if she could 'spank her son because he is so bad.'"

"I don't doubt the mother's accounts," Hannah said in her emailed response. "[The mother] has recently sent [us] pictures from inside. ... So the issue isn't believability, but how do we put a stop to it."

Gary's letter in response to his firing also said he "suspected clients' families of contacting the staff and paying them off to bring in contraband, or throwing things over the fence at night."

In a Nov. 19 email, a division employee inspecting the Dermott facility said the staff there didn't properly supervise youths.

"As I was making my last rounds around the campus, I approached Charlie Dorm. As I walked in I smelled marijuana. As I walked further out the back door that proceeds to the rec yard, the scent became stronger. Everyone began to scatter across the rec yard. As I was observing even further, I didn't see a staff in sight," the email said.

"One staff ... was standing inside the [vestibule] looking outside," the email continued. "Then later I saw staff ... come outside. My question to them was why weren't you all on the yard so you can see what's going on? No one had a justifiable response. ... They will receive a write-up for not being visible on the rec yard."

Both written-up Dermott guards still have their jobs, according to the state's online personnel database.

Webb acknowledged in a previous interview that there had been issues with contraband, especially cellphones, at the Dermott lockup last summer. In response, the Youth Services Division required that employees and visitors be searched, and called in trained dogs to find any drugs, she said.

The last drug search took place in January and yielded no results, she had said.

'NO ROAD MAPS'

In his letter to the Youth Services Division, Gary said Dermott was rife with problems long before he took over.

"The youth were completely out of control ... literally doing what they wanted to do," he wrote. "The staff had no control or directions in solving problems. The facility had contraband everywhere, and it took months to get rid of the majority of the drugs, tobacco, cell phones, iPads and personal clothing that had been allowed to come into the facility.

"It is amazing that this facility was not closed due to all the deficiencies before I arrived," he continued.

Gary's letter also described a facility in disrepair. The lockup went without a working sprinkler system, needed in case of a fire, for two years, he said. Drinking-water fountains "were busted." Bathroom faucets leaked and damaged floors, and most of the lights didn't work.

The Dermott site's poor physical conditions had been cited in reports from Disability Rights Arkansas, a federally empowered watchdog group, between 2016 and 2018.

Gary's letter also said the Youth Services Division didn't help him or offer support to make needed changes.

"DYS had no policy on what to do or guidelines on how to handle negative behavior," he wrote. "There were no road maps and we were left to deal with it the best we could."

Webb said on Wednesday that "Gary had an open line of communication with DYS and DHS leadership, but did not express those concerns" at the time and that his letter was in response to being fired.

"We have talked with him at length since," she said. "He is comfortable enough that he is now working for DYS again."

SundayMonday on 03/24/2019

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