Everybody loves a hero. And Texas Ranger Brian Burzynski definitely falls squarely into the white hat, genuine hero category. He’s the guy who began the investigation that would ultimately become the Texas Youth Commission scandal. [WLA posted on the issue back in March.]
But for two years, although he documented 229 cases of abuse at a West Texas school, he could get neither the local prosecutor nor federal attorneys to press charges.
In addition, more than 2,000 allegations of staff abusing inmates were confirmed by the Texas Youth Commission, dating from January 2003 to December 2006. But the U.S. Justice Department declined to prosecute anyone at TYC either, or do anything to compel agency-wide reforms, says Sunday’s Dallas Morning News.
Now, after a three month investigation into the issue, the Dallas paper says that that it was plain old politics not the law that kept the feds from prosecuting.
…. two former career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division contended the department’s political leadership shifted enforcement priorities to human-trafficking prosecutions because that would appeal more to the president’s conservative religious base. One of the attorneys said there was also a desire not to anger the law-and-order segment of the Bush constituency with abuse of authority prosecutions.
In other words, looking into cases involving a bunch of kids serving time in juvenile detention simply wasn’t a terribly high priority—never mind that the kids were clearly being raped and abused by those who were supposed to protect them. They were throwaways—definitely nobody that made it on to the radar screen of Important Issues.
Just to make clear exactly what we’re talking about, here are few of the charges Burzynski documented:
1. Reports that administrators would rouse boys from their sleep for the purpose of conducting all-night sex parties.
2. A former Texas Youth Commission official, Ray Brookins, accused of molesting incarcerated boys was living with a 16-year-old on prison grounds when officers searched his home.3. Although scores of pornographic videos, catalogs and magazines were found at Brookins’ home. Even then, authorities let the boy live there until his father arrived from South Carolina to pick him up.
4. Previously, 18-year-old who described how Brookins sexually groomed him and eventually engaged in oral sex with him.
5. Burzynski found log books that documented things like sex toys and traces of semen found on an office carpet.
6. He also said that TYC staffers, incarcerated youth and log books indicated that administrators summoned youthful offenders from classrooms and dormitory beds to their offices where they abused them.
7. Burzynski noted that one kid reported being abused by one of the men “so many times” that he “lost count.”
Sometimes the man would use security to summon the boy in the morning, sometimes he’d wait until after lights out at 9 p.m., plying the youth with pornographic movies in his office, wrote Burzynski.8. “Everyone knew what was going on,” another kid told Burzynski at the time, adding that he was not molested.
9. Still another boy told the Ranger he was regularly abused in an empty classroom and said one of the men once came bearing a cake from Wal-Mart and an offer to help him obtain financial aid for college in exchange for sex.
“I saw kids with fear in their eyes because they knew they were trapped in a system,” Burzynski said.
And yet, when the Ranger presented his findings to the attorney general in Texas, to the U.S. Attorney John Sutton, and to the Department of Justice civil rights division. From all three, Burzynski received no interest in prosecuting the alleged sexual offenses. The DOJ’s letter turning Burzynski down is a particularly amazing feat of tortured legal logic:
“In order to support a felony charge under 18 U.S.C. Section 242, it would be necessary for the government to demonstrate ‘bodily injury.’ As you know, our interviews with the victims none sustained ‘bodily injury.'” The letter goes on to say that because the victims weren’t threatened with “death, serious bodily injury or kidnapping” the sexual incidents documented by Burzynski didn’t constitute “aggravated sexual abuse.”
(By the way, for anyone with the desire to go deeper into the issue, advocates like the Lone Star Project have been way out ahead on this issue, with far harsher reports like this one here and another here).
To my way of thinking, this situation wonderfully illustrates that old phrase, “the banality of evil”—and I’m not just talking about the abusers.
Celeste, you’re not stupid, but when you re-post something like this sentence above, you sure appear to be a dupe for Democratic politics and mud slinging. Don’t you think that this allegation requires a little higher level of proof than the “contentions” of two former employees?
I’m sorry for the boys and the abuse needs to be stopped, but this didn’t start when Bush became President.
Apparently homosexuals should not be permitted to work as guards in Juvenile facilities. Just as in the case of priests in Catholic churches homosexual men in contact with young boys is a prescription for sexual abuse.
Woody, I realize the statement is going to be controversial, but if you follow the links upstream to the Dallas Morning News, their previous reporting on the subject, the research by the Lone Star project, plus the underlying documents, the reticence to file seems to have little other explanation—other than politics.
If there’s another one, I’d love to hear it.
I’ve been tracking this tory since March, and came to the same conclusion back then even without the DMN report, but never got around to blogging on it.
At it’s heart, this isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue, it goes directly to the climate created by one specific administration that most Republican candidates are trying to distance themselves from. All this weekend, I’ve been seeing things about how increasingly Republicans are expressing their disgust, fury and sense of betrayal with regard to the Bush administration.
Celeste, there is a difference between saying that something has little other explanation and saying that something was determined to be the explanation. One implies either a lack of homework or quitting before one found what they didn’t want to hear, and the second implies confirmation.
On the surface to me, it makes no sense that people in the Bush administration would take away any funding that already existed for programs to help incarcerated youths. Do you know if that has happened?
What else would you expect from a conservative quasi-racist state like Tejas???
Whoa Poplock, the conservative quasi racist is also the state that found the problem (Brian Burzynski was a TEJAS RANGER Dude) I’ll also state that I’ve worked with investigators from the Texas Department of State Health Services, The Attorney Generals Office and the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (Child Protective Services). While there are a lot of problems, Texas is no better and no worse than any other state and if you want to name YOUR state, I’ll show you plenty of dirt too. Asshat!
Sorry Celeste, I hardly ever cuss, but that remark ticked me off.
G.M., Celeste should thank us for not letting liberals take over the comment section.
And, Pokey, too.
And I DO thank you!
Hey, we need people of good will from both sides of the political fence if we’re ever going to make a dent in some of the messes we talk about here.
Plus, a little squabbling (and swearing) is good for one’s circulation; I’m sure of it. Intellectual aerobics, doncha know.
I knew my one-liner comment would tick someone off here. I’m actually pleased that your defending Texas but then again you dont disagree on my connected racist comment. It tells me a lot of your self conscience with the topic at hand.
In Texas, my great grandparents were treated worst than a farm animal prior to moving to a more civilized city of Chicago, ILL – This was in the early 1900s of course. I hope your dont ever enter any of my numerous relative homes, you will be jumped. One thing about Chicago, the Italians (being Catholics) treated the Mexicans with some level of respect. I even had a couple of great uncles run moonshine for the Italianos and a handful of others marry into Italian families. Believe it or not, Mexicanos were all up in that illegal moonshine mix too.
Now, on the issue of the Texas Rangers, I’m wasn’t going to go into any details, anyone can find their negative reputation in any history book and racist criminal justice records. But I will go into providing details of my interviews of a surviving Texas Ranger that later served WWI. He testifies on how he would just round up “the dirty Mexicans” and shot them point blank in the head….. I think your getting the picture. Aside from killing J.F. Kennedy, I really dislike your State.
By the way, just because someone badmouths conservatives does not mean your a liberal.
Poplock, we have benefited from your insights into gang culture and things those of us lucky to be isolated from have never known. But while Texas was surely racist generations ago — you mention the early 1900’s — that was a time when in Russia, other white Russians who happened to be peasants had no rights and were literally treated and owned like animals.
Sometime later before and leading upto WWII, Jews were treated the same by the Germans, the Chinese and Koreans by the Japanese, and so on.
By and large, except for places like post-Tito Yugoslavia and Africa, these sorts of horrors of man against man are disappearing. (Ironically, Mexico is not exactly a bastion of openness when it comes to the Guatemalan refugees and others poorer and considered socially inferior to them. And weren’t the Indians in Mexico mistreated during the above periods?)
I’ll admit that the Texas-hat wearing, gun-toting, redneck image still applies to some people, and I’m not comfortable with the poufy-haired throwback women who pass for socialites there. But your level of hatred based on mores of generations ago seems misplaced.
And in your next-to-last para, did you actually say that JFK being killed in Teas is the one thing you like about Texas?
Poplock, don’t try to be an amatuer psychologist in regards to G.M.’s response about Texas. You’re out of your league.
If anything, you’re holding grudges and taking up offense for others for things going back one-hundred years shows more about yourself. When it comes to Texas, and perhaps the South, you’re the bigot.
Celeste, I wasn’t really fishing for a thank you for confronting liberal comments. I am not interested in balance but in truth, and I think we have a much greater measure of it on your site than say, maybe Kos.
No….that an assassination of a President can not be predicted or prevented in any time or place.
On your historical outline….you forget the Americans killing off the buffalo and the numerous abuses against the native Indians. Also, starting and conspiring an illegal war against Mexico and breaking signed treaties. Detaining the Japanese Americans in concentration camps. The continue promotion of pro Nazi hate groups due to the 9/11 immigration social panic. The Slave Trade and its servitude and discrimination laws of the Southern States prior to 1965. The U.S. Navy and police beatings of Pachocos in downtown and East LA. Imposing unfair trade agreements like NAFTA and jeopardizing the livelyhood of the Mexican indians in Chapias. Sticking our noses in Vietnam (which my father regrets serving in) and countless others bullshit sponsored wars like IRAQ.
The difference is that the events in Texas years ago continue to affect our attitude. So I have every right on my personal opinion and choice. Just like any of my good Jewish friends that you will never see buy a German made car or a racist Henry Ford vehicle.
Typical ethnocentric Americans.
Poplock, I find it sad that you hate America so much, and clearly wish California and the West were a part of Mexico, that that country had won the civil war…then lucky us, we’d be in their economic and social position. Much of what you make makes no sense, either. No, not everyone shares your sense of historical spite: when that happens, you get the Serbian-Bosnian genocide over things a hundred years ago. It’s also the kind of tribal hate that causes gang warfare in our inner cities: black vs. brown, this street vs. that, Crips vs. Bloods… Work to get over it.
As for being Jewish, I’m half-Jewish, and there are very few Jews who won’t be seen driving a BMW or Mercedes: they’d be practicallt carless in Hollywood, if they were. And Germany is one of Israel’s biggest supporters in Israel, and Germans constitute a large portion of Israeli tourists, especially Dead Sea resorts.
Maybe you ought to become less of an “ethnocentric American” and learn more about the rest of the world. Above all, find some way: religion, meditation, support groups, some art that makes you happy, and heal yourself.
popluck, it sounds as if you would be happier in one of the countries that has never committed any atrocities. Let us know which one that you find.
Your just a really overall dumb person….no need to argue it.
Okay, now will everyone please lower your weapons? Shout. But don’t shoot to kill.
With all due respect, Celeste — and this is your blog and all, and you’re a nice lady — telling “everyone” not to “shoot to kill” when it’s just one poster, is the sort of liberal equivocation that passes for “conflict resolution” so that nothing is ever really resolved. Not everyone is always equally wrong and illogical; taking a stand is sometimes the right thing to do.
With all due respect, Celeste — and this is your blog and all, and you’re a nice lady — telling “everyone” not to “shoot to kill” when it’s just one poster, is the sort of liberal equivocation that passes for “conflict resolution” so that nothing is ever really resolved. Not everyone is always equally wrong and illogical; taking a stand is sometimes the right thing to do.
Well, since you think this reply is worthy of “deletion” it proves the above point — but it really is surprising.
apologies,Celeste — it took so long for the previous to show up — s/t it’s just off, I guess. And poplock: please keep writing, sharing your experiences. I really was trying to engage in a dialogue. I should would rather have you share your feelings here or in one of Celeste’s writing programs… She just has infinitely more understanding and patience with all this, than most of us. Keep writing!
Hey, I really enjoy and value the comments of everybody here. My mom thing just kicked it. It was probably unnecessary.
And, Maggie, I’d never delete a comment—and certainly never yours.
(Okay, there was that one time that WLA suddenly got on the radar of a white supremacist site and a couple of real, trash-spewing trolls showed up. I spiked a couple of those loathsome creeps.)
Once in a while my spam catcher holds a comment for moderation for no apparent reason, and I don’t catch it right away. (Usually a bunch of links will trigger it, and it becomes convinced somebody’s trying to sell Rolex replicas.)
If that ever happens to you, email me and I’ll rectify it.
And, Poplock, you too. For heaven’s sake keep commenting. You contribute a lot of great stuff.
Okay, over and out. (Need sleep!)
You see Maggie, you statements continue to make an emphasis that I need sometype of writing program or I am sometype of naive uneducated neighgorhood kid that has no knowledge of global politics or world history. What is that all about? Aside from having my undergraduate degree in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations and studying aboard , I already went through a successful writing program in my mid 20s with my works published. The only writing I do these days are legal court documents or a happy birthday card to a friend or a relative. Plus, I dont want to tell you my resume because then it defeats the purpose of staying anonymous. A lot of the things I will post are not for everyday viewing.
I may have grown up in the worst parts of SouthEast Los Angeles but believe me that my education is not from some half ass Cal State College.
Now going back to the gang issues. Ms. Fremon, LA just had an attempted kidnapping in Pacoima by three MS gang members. As you have seen, they shot at LAPD with no regards to the potential consequences. The person that they tried to kidnap was a supermarket owner’s son that has been VERY shady with his past business connections and mexican cartel associations – very similar to the Numero Uno market guy. How far will the digging go?
Remember the concepts and rules – an innocent is left alone if he/she has no connection to a gang or participating (this includes relatives) in a criminal organization.
How can a specific gang kidnap an innocent and not expect a green ball?
I’ve heard nothing about this incident, poplock. Did this just happen in the last couple of days?
In Pacoima – August 6 in the LA Times
Los Angeles police are investigating the carjacking and kidnapping of a man that led to a short pursuit and ended with an officer shooting a man in Pacoima, officials said Monday.
Officers patrolling the Mission area in the northeast San Fernando Valley responded to a report of a stolen car being driven erratically around 10 p.m. Sunday, said LAPD Sgt. Lee Sands. When the car, with four men inside, failed to yield, officers began pursuing it.
Officials said the chase lasted several minutes, ending at Laurel Canyon Boulevard near the Ronald Reagan Freeway.
The driver and two occupants got out of the car and ran. At least one man stayed back, pointing a gun at officers, Sands said.
‘That’s when the officer-involved shooting occurred,’ Sands said.
The gunman, who was not immediately identified, was listed in critical condition after being shot in the neck.
A second suspect was treated for a bite from a police dog after he was discovered hiding in an underground parking lot.
No officers were hurt. Police found that car had been carjacked and its owner kidnapped.
Two people were arrested on suspicion of carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.
Last week, there were three incidents within several hours in which officers were shot at or had to use their weapons to project themselves, Sands said. So far this year, 17 officers have been shot at.
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com
The kidnapped victim should be in handcuffs too.
The L A Times added a Homicide Map to its Homicide Blog just yesterday — see at a glance homicide patterns, new killings.
A grim pasttime, but worth checking out if visiting or thinking of moving to a new area, and to see how your area fares overall. Supposedly homicides are down in the city overall, but burglaries and other crimes are up. (?)
I have some experience with being incarcerated in Ohio with sex offenders. The country, states, and communities have put into effect residency restricions and online notification of where they live and work as well as their crime(s).
Most legislators, no matter what level they are, lose track that the real problem is not treating individuals while they are incarcerated. While legislators do not want to look soft on crime, they allocate little or no funding to help in the manner best described by psychological and psychiatric associations across America.
Sex offenders have the second to lowest rate of recidivism at 7.2% (U.S. Department of Justice 2004 Study). Yet right-wing conservative legislators put the fear into the public, which in turn causes 13 year olds to end up in juvenile detention for smacking butts at school. This is what fear does. Thank you for your time.