ProPublica has an article up that describes hellish conditions In the Southwest Key Casa Padre Detention Center in Brownsville, Texas.
Hell for the detainees as well as for the folks, many hastily hired newcomers, tasked with caring for them.
Twelve hour shifts are the norm. Bathroom breaks nearly impossible to attain. Caring for kids that are despondent, suicidal and, often, attempting to escape.
And on top of that, pressure from management to chip in a portion of their paychecks to help supply the kids needs, even though Southwest Key has received nearly a billion dollars in contracts since 2015.
“If you are stuck there a long time, it will change you,” one employee said. “In a matter of time, this kid is going to become more aggressive. He is just there like a little animal being caged.”
Some punch walls, or other kids, or staff, according to employees and records. Some cut themselves or attempt suicide. After ending up in the hospital multiple times, one boy wrote a staff member to apologize: “You told me many times not to hurt myself but I continued to do it and now I am here.”
Some take off running. One employee remembered a kid leaving during shift change, when supervision was scant; another recalled a runaway layering on three outfits at once for the journey. Sometimes, cops find the kids. Sometimes, they don’t. (snip)
Almost universally, employees complained of being worked to the bone. A current employee in Texas said that as new children started being bused in daily, management cancelled vacations and placed staffers on 12-hour shifts. Bathroom breaks are a challenge. Employees regularly wait hours after requesting to relieve themselves. One said a colleague got a urinary tract infection because she was forced to wait. Another recalled running into a colleague, who was distraught because she was on her period but had yet to be relieved from her post four hours after requesting a bathroom break. (snip)
“Yes, it’s a lot of stress, but you do something,” said one employee. “You feel that you actually got to accomplish something…
“And the kids will actually ask you, are you going to come tomorrow?”
Read the article at your own peril, it will break your heart while making you mad as hell.
We should be able to do better than this.