Tulsa Juvenile Detention Center receives ultimatum to correct illegal and negligent activity.
The Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice is a juvenile detention center that holds teenagers accused of crimes before trial. In the past two years, allegations of extreme misconduct by staff and extreme mistreatment of residents have arisen. On July 31, The Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs gave the center 60 days to improve or be shut down. But many feel that after months of hesitation to take decisive action, the shutdown should be immediate.
From the time it was opened in December 2019, the center has had limited oversight to ensure it follows regulations and treats its residents well. The Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, who is in charge of overseeing the center, found violations throughout the center’s lifespan, even placing it on probation in May of 2023, but little corrective action was taken. Things stayed business as usual until April 2024, when center employee, Jonathan Hines, was arrested for rape. A 17-year-old resident reported that Hines had propositioned him for sex in exchange for money and contraband. Many other residents have also accused Hines of sexual harassment, molestation and smuggling contraband. Hines was arrested on April 26 and 10 days later, the director of the FCJJ, Anthony Taylor, was fired by Judge Kevin Gray, the chief judge of the Juvenile Division in the Tulsa County District Court.
Since then, many residents have come forward about issues at the center of abuse, sexual assault and neglect from the FCJJ’s staff and leadership. Originally 21 residents, which has now grown to 30, filed a lawsuit through Smolen Law against the center and county and state officials. The lawsuit accused employees of delivering external contraband to residents including vape pens and marijuana, denying necessary medication to residents, showing explicit images to residents, forcing residents to participate in fight clubs, insufficient schooling, poor living conditions and multiple instances of sexual abuse. Chris Brecht, the lawyer in charge of the case told 102.3 KRMG, he would describe the center’s workers to have free reign to abuse and rape the children.
Since the lawsuit, some measures of action have been taken. Dquan Doyle, another employee of the center, has been arrested for groping a resident and smuggling contraband. The Tulsa Police Department began an investigation, including a search of the facility for illegal activity. But actions to fix the issue have been stymied by conflicts over who is in charge of overseeing the facility. The Tulsa County commissioners avowed no responsibility for the actions of the center’s leadership, though there is some evidence they were made aware of the situation before it was made public. After Gray fired Taylor, he argued that the commissioners should take over operating the center and fixing the issues, while the commissioners argued that it was Gray’s responsibility to take over. Eventually, the commissioners relented and undertook the job of managing the center.
The Tulsa County Commissioners gave Donald Parker the job of solving the issues with the facility and meeting the OJA’s demands. Parker claims he is more than capable of fixing the myriad issues by the September deadline. Though he has experience managing adult detention centers, he has been challenged on his lack of experience dealing with youth. News on 6 reported that Parker rebutted that he has had some experience with youth while working with adult detention centers, and believed the center needed management over his experience.
Currently Parker is working to turn around the FCJJ. But most of the same staff is still employed at the center and there are still over 20 residents in the center, raising doubt over whether Parker can bring the center up to proper standards in time. The Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice has advocated throughout this situation for the center to be temporarily shut down. This is until a full investigation can be performed and any staff involved in illegal or negligent activity be replaced. They still argue the residents need to be removed and placed elsewhere. But for now, Parker and Tulsa County are taking a slower approach to correcting the issues with the center.
