By Lauren McGaughy. During her four years as the supervisor of a program for teen inmates jailed at the Clemens Unit in Brazoria, an adult prison , Dominique Mitchell repeatedly alleged abuse and neglect:. A mentally ill teenager was taunted by guards who told him to kill himself. Another teen had been in solitary for two years. Inmates were fighting because guards left them alone for hours.
The guards derided her as "a snitch. Less than a year later, in August , an adult inmate and teenager were discovered engaging in a sexual act through the bars of the teen's cell. Read the crime and public safety news your neighbors are talking about. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Mitchell lost her job, too. Now, worried that systemic problems will continue, she is speaking out about what she calls a culture of cover-up in the program meant to rehabilitate these teenage criminals. In Texas, year-olds are considered adults in the eyes of the law. And depending on their crime, teens as young as 14 can be tried as adults, convicted and incarcerated in adult prison. But federal law requires inmates under 18 to be separated from adult prisoners in most circumstances.
Most of the male teenagers who fall into this group are currently housed in the Youthful Offender Program at the Clemens Unit, a year-old prison about an hour south of Houston. During the day, teen inmates interact with specially trained correctional staff who work solely for the program; nights and weekends, adult prison's guards are in charge. Since its inception, the program has been divisive. There it will also have access to all of the agency resources in and around Huntsville.
No criminal charges were brought against the adult inmate involved in the incident because the teenager was 17, the age of consent in Texas, and both inmates claimed the sex act was consensual. The incident occurred on Aug. The adult, who worked as a janitor in an area where teenagers 17 and younger were housed, "digitally penetrated" the male teenager through the bars of his cell, said Bruce Toney, the inspector general charged with looking into alleged crimes at TDCJ.
