CHRIS McGONIGAL
PRISONERS
OF PROFIT
cial hotline for juvenile inmates
seeking to report mistreatment.
But youth who have been inside
YSI facilities told HuffPost that
those wanting access to the hotline must seek permission from
staff — often the same staff they
say abused them.
Williams, the YSI spokesman, denied that inmates were
pressured not to report abuse.
“There are multiple ways for de-
HUFFINGTON
11.03.13
tainees to report abuse, such as
hotlines directly to the state, reporting to other administrators
(anonymously) or simply telling
their family members during visitation,” he said.
Chelsea Fernandez, an inmate at
Broward Girls Academy who left
the program last year, said she was
denied hotline calls despite suffering bruises after being thrown up
against a wall and onto the floor
by a female staff member.
“She kicked me like a dog,” Fernandez recalled. She said the next
Chelsea
Fernandez,
a former
inmate at
Broward Girls
Academy,
poses for a
photo outside
her home in
Miami on May
31, 2013.