PRISONERS
OF PROFIT
“We didn’t uplift them in any
way,” Phillips said of the inmates.
“They never felt good about themselves. It just added to the stress
level that was in there.”
Thompson Academy, the facility for boys, was one of YSI’s most
troubled institutions until it closed
last year as part of what the state
called its “Long Range Program
Plan” to phase out larger juvenile
facilities. It was also one of the
most profitable. With 154 beds, the
contract was worth $13 million.
From the beginning, escapes,
fights and abuse by staff were
frequent. In its first two years,
Thompson failed numerous state
reviews. Yet it remained open for
nine years.
A 2010 lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center referred
to youth who described Thompson Academy as a “frightening
and violent place” where juveniles
were denied medical care when
abused. “Children are choked and
slammed head first into concrete
walls, their arms and fingers are
bent back and twisted to inflict
pain for infractions as minor as
failing to follow an order to stand
up,” the lawsuit said. The compa-
HUFFINGTON
11.03.13
ny settled the lawsuit in 2011; the
terms remain confidential.
Under the state’s contract
guidelines, allegations of sexual
abuse require immediate reporting to the Department of Juvenile
Justice’s Central Communications Center. But local police and
state authorities did not learn of
alleged sexual abuse at the same
facility until a boy made his third
complaint, according to an internal state investigation and local
police reports.
A boy who said he was forced
to give oral sex to a male guard on
three different occasions first reported the abuse in March 2010.
In a police report from October of
that year, a Pembroke Pines officer
noted: “This is the third time this
victim has alleged sexual abuse.”
“Absolutely no paperwork exists
with the Thompson Academy as
to internal investigations on this
incident or on allegations that occurred there,” the report said.
A former employee at Thompson Academy, who asked not to be
identified because he still works
in the field, said staff were often
told not to report physical incidents that were considered minor.
“They said we’ve got to get our
contracts,” the employee said.
“We don’t want these
points against us.”
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