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Former youth jail principal denies abusing kids

There is an ugly truth which the media is failing to report in connection with the injustices involving youth who are being warehoused and abused by their keepers inside the TYC. 

The public should also be made aware that 20 or 30 % of TYC commitments come from the Dallas County Jail in Texas.  Before they ever hit the doors of the state run facilities, the kids are being abused at the jails. This is especially so for those 13, 14 15 year olds I met in the Dallas County Jail who were transferred to the adult courts to stand trial.

These young men and women are transferred from abusive juvenile halls into the county jail where they are placed on 24/7 lockdown in a sensory deprivation unit, terrorized and harassed regularly by the Sheriff's SRT (Special Response Team). 

The youngsters are denied all access to educational, vocational, religious programs. They are also denied regular out of cell exercise and this is all being done without any due process hearing or violation of any rules or regulations of the jail on the children's parts - other than their cases being transferred to the adult system.

I have a pending federal lawsuit [Amir-Sharif v. Captian James Howell, Sheriff Lupe Valdez, Dallas County, et al., 3:06-cv-1901], which process has been issued on all my claims.  This lawsuit challenges the barbaric conditions (e.g. no regular exchange of clean clothing, no toothbrushes or medically approved and adequate alternatives to practice basic dental hygiene.  Our sheets/bedding was not exchanged for over 5 months so we were forced to wash them in the toilets.

We were denied medical attention, denied access to law library or receipt of legal publications such as PLN/Prison Legal News, and the manner by which the Sheriff arbitrarily places persons in so-called "administrative confinement status' without so much as a hearing or opportunity to grieve the matter beforehand or thereafter, and without providing regular and constitutionally sufficient reviews of the status.

I have several Unsworn Declarations in my possession and others have been filed detailing this situation  [Also See Declartions Filed In: Amir-Sharif v. Dallas County Texas, 3:06-cv-0143-k], but Magistrate Judge Paul Stickney and the rest of the judges of the Northern District Court of Texas Dallas Division, have been shamelessly biased and have turned a blind eye to these and other egregious violations of the civil and human rights of the adults and juveniles caged up at the county jail.

After we filed the first set of declarations to the court in mid-January 2007, some unknown woman from a local juvenile agency in Dallas came and spoke to all of the juveniles and promised to look into their complaints of physical and verbal abuse, denial of access to programs, law library access etc., but as of the date I was released on bond [February 21, 2007], nothing had materialized from this unusual visit.

I promised those juveniles (and adults) that I wouldn't get out and forget them and I have not. If there was ever a facility where juveniles are held that also warrants an audit, the Dallas County Jail is that place.

But be prepared to face all sorts of resistance from the Sheriff and all her staff as well as the county commissioners, and the newly-elected district attorney and his staff. They, as well as the federal court, are all well aware that there is a pattern of gross injustice at the jail with regards to the oppressive confinement conditions and abusive treatment of the adults and juveniles housed there. Something needs to be done and done immediately!!!

Sharif
mtwt-dallas@hotmail.com,

Former youth jail principal denies abusing kids in 1st interview

The Associated Press

Mar 23, 2007 11:49 AM (1 hr 48 mins ago)

FORT STOCKTON, Texas

The former principal at a West Texas youth jail denied involvement in accusations of sexual abuse there in his first interview since the scandal broke.
http://www.examiner.com/a-635278~Former_youth_jail_principal_denies_abusing_kids_in_1st_interview.html


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