Michigan top health official: Reports from inside Wayne juvenile jail 'highly concerning'
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Michigan's top health official said details she has heard from state employees recently placed inside the Wayne County juvenile jail after the alleged sex assault of a 12-year-old are "highly concerning."
"We absolutely have some concerns after our staff were able to be on-site 24 hours a day starting at the end of last week," Elizabeth Hertel, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told the Free Press on Wednesday.
"After having some direct discussions with some of the children there, they indicated that they hadn't showered in a number of days, they may not have access to clean clothing, underwear. They may not be getting meals on a regular basis. And there were indications that maybe they weren't getting out of their rooms for an adequate amount of time."
Hertel's comments echo the findings of an ongoing Free Press investigation, which has chronicled the ongoing crisis at the Juvenile Detention Facility since last summer, spotlighting overcrowding, understaffing and poor living conditions for youths.
Hertel said there is "inadequate supervision" by county employees of the youths, including not checking on youths regularly as required by state rules. And there have been additional complaints filed by state employees to launch new state investigations.
"We are relying on Wayne County to run the facility in the way that they have committed to running it,” Hertel said. “It does not appear to be happening.”
More:Michigan lawmakers to hold special hearing on Wayne County juvenile jail conditions
She said conditions are "highly concerning and it's of an urgent nature. No question."
"The kids who are there are concerned for their own safety," Hertel said.
Hertel's comments came just hours before a state Senate subcommittee held a special hearing Wednesday on the crisis at the facility, amid a police investigation into the alleged sexual assault last week of the 12-year-old boy by other youths at the facility.
On Tuesday night, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans announced he has declared a public health state of emergency at the facility, saying the step is warranted because "we feel like these kids are not safe. Our staff is not safe." But he also called on the state to help alleviate overcrowding by providing space for youths to be transferred to residential facilities in line with their sentences in court.
Evans admitted Tuesday night that his decision to abandon the county's original juvenile facility downtown to move youths to a vacant adult jail and an effort to bring more staff on through a contract company haven't improved conditions.
Since the alleged assault on the boy, state officials have intervened by having two staff members on-site at the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week to shadow county supervisors “until further notice” while the state's own investigations into the facility are ongoing.
MDHHS spokesman Bob Wheaton said the department has licensing authority over the facility but doesn't have legal authority to take over operations. Hertel told the Free Press at this point, she does not think the department has enough information to weigh issuing its own emergency order.
The health emergency order will let Evans move more quickly to hire and bring in therapeutic services, he said. That could include renegotiating union contracts to raise pay rates in order to attract and keep employees.
Besides the assault investigation, state officials are investigating another unusual incident at the jail when in January a sheriff's deputy used a Taser to subdue a 16-year-old who broke out of his cell and made threats. The incident was a rare use of force in the facility.
Youths routinely are disabling their cell locks and wandering out of their rooms, employees say. This week, there were 137 juveniles in the facility that can comfortably handle about 80, county officials said.
Hertel said she applauds Evans for declaring the state emergency.
"I am incredibly grateful for the attention that they are going to be giving this and that he will be providing that sort of direct oversight and accountability to ensure that kids are living in a safe environment," Hertel said.
More:Juvenile jail in 'disaster' mode: Complaints of youths locked in rooms for days
More:Overcrowded, understaffed juvenile jail forces Wayne County officials to act
Tensions have run high between state and county officials on who is to blame for the crisis, documented in letters between Evans and his staff and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration earlier this year obtained by the Free Press.
Evans was critical of Whitmer’s administration for its "failure" to solve the shortage of outside facilities that house and treat youths who have been sentenced by judges.
Under an agreement with the circuit court, the county must deliver juvenile justice services to its youths. But county officials in the letters to their state counterparts argued that the juveniles' care is ultimately the state’s responsibility.
Currently, 65 youths in the jail have had their cases adjudicated and are just awaiting placement in a secure residential facility. Wait times have ballooned to nearly two years in some cases, county officials have said.
Evans wrote that state officials haven't moved fast enough to increase beds and instead regulators have taken "aggressive enforcement steps" by suspending and revoking existing facilities' licenses.
Tuesday night, Evans took a more cooperative tone, saying that the county and state are partners and that he hopes “we'll be able to rely on them to do their part.”
Contact Christine MacDonald: cmacdonald@freepress.com or 313-418-2149. Follow her on Twitter: @cmacfreep. Contact Dave Boucher: dboucher@freepress.com and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan health boss: Reports inside juvenile jail 'highly concerning'
