JCO BLOG

Have we reached the bottom of the pit, yet?  I don't think so... but it's close at hand.

Just heard this morning that another major RIOT has taken place on the TYC Giddings campus; details are sketchy, but I heard it all started with 100+ (?) kids fighting at the school and then spilled out on to the softball field.  Who knows what really happened??  I don't, not yet, but will be going to work later today and hope to find out some details.

So.  Does it give me any pleasure to post about this inevitable event and be able to say "I TOLD YOU SO"... ??  No, it does not.  It may have been preventable, though, if Admin had shown some interest when they first learned of the TYC website I originally started.  While claiming the site's content was "of no concern" to them, they still pressured me into changing the name, thereby necessitating the need to start things all over again. 

OK,  but I was NOT silenced... I was NOT deterred.  The problems here STILL EXIST, and have only gotten worse because Admin (and Austin) has continued to prefer keeping their collective heads firmly entrenched in the sand. 



This is also known as "denial" -- but now it's too damn late for the Powers That Be to backtrack and exclaim "Hey! We had no idea!".  All they needed was to read this blog and ask some questions of JCO staff on campus to learn what was REALLY GOING ON.  So as I say -- too late, too smart.  Too bad, too...

Will news of this latest riot hit the newspapers and the TV stations?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  SHOULD it?  Of course.  The public has a right to know that TYC and soon-to-be as of tomorrow TJJD is in full scale FAILURE MODE... not because of just what the KIDS have done -- but because of what Admin/Austin HAS NOT HAD THE COURAGE TO DO.  In a nutshell, they have refused to "get real" and acknowldege the meltdown of this Agency, and, their own culpability in its demise.  On the other hand, us JCO's have been saying for months, time and time again, that providing the kids with new video games, snow cones and slip-n-slides is NOT HELPING us OR them... but we've not been heard.  No one cared what the staff on the floor had to say and the kids increasingly took advantage of us all.  And now, this is what we have to show for it:



Not a pretty picture, is it?

Ahh, yes, the truth hurts.  But don't blame ME -- I've tried over and over again in many, many ways to get the word out that unless changes were made on campus we would eventually be facing situations such as what's happened today.  Hopefully no staff or youth were seriously hurt, but even if they were not -- where does that leave us tomorrow and the day after?  Will people (who are supposed to be smarter than me and running this place) FINALLY take an HONEST LOOK at what needs to be done here, namely, to get back to running the facility as ANYTHING but a recreational camp for juvenile felons?  Or -- sad to say, more likely -- will the kids instead be rewarded for their by now unmanageable behavior in hopes of appeasing them so they won't continue the disruptions?  HAH!!  Go figure!! 

Bottom line is, I can predict a few changes happening.  First, some teachers at the school will resign, and deservedly so.  It should to be obvious to them ALL by now that the school is a dangerous place where no education is taking place no matter how much effort they put into their jobs.  Secondly, some JCO staff -- and maybe security staff, too -- will quit working here.  This has to be the straw that breaks the camel's back for some of them... I know of a few that just can't handle the pressure and stress any more.  And finally, I figure the whole incident will be COVERED UP as much as possible to make it seem like it was no big deal... mainly to protect those who have allowed things to get as bad as they are.  That's the way things seem to always go around here, eh?



What REALLY stinks is that by doing so, The System shows itself to be unfair to the youth, us State employees, the citizens/taxpayers of Texas in general, and the communities WE ALL live in.  Maybe "unfair" isn't strong enough of a word... but y'all know what I mean.  So how's this: The kids are being RIPPED OFF, us JCO's are being RIPPED OFF, and everyone living in Texas that expects us to manage/rehabilitate/resocialize youthful felons in this State are being RIPPED OFF by those Powers That Be who sit in their Ivory Towers and slap each other on the backs to say what a GREAT JOB they've all done.  

Yeah, right.  Tell me another one.  SHAME ON Y'ALL for ignoring the signs of impending disaster when you had the opportunity to make bold and meaningful changes so we wouldn't be where we are today.  Shame, shame, shame... hope you can sleep with a clear conscience tonight, folks, but don't forget -- one of these days it may be YOUR kid or grandkid who is committed to this facility.  Who can you depend on then to see he's safe and being treated right?