Second employee lawsuit says abuse covered up at KY Department of Juvenile Justice
A former employee of the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice sued the state on Wednesday, saying that he was wrongfully fired for reporting the physical abuse of a boy held in custody.
It’s at least the second lawsuit this year filed by DJJ employees who claim they lost their jobs because they tried to expose the mistreatment of youths in the state’s chaotic juvenile detention centers. Two nurses, Nina Burton and Joanne Alvarado, sued Jan. 31 and alleged they were effectively forced out in “a toxic cocktail where violence was not only predictable, but inevitable.”
During the 2023 General Asembly that recently ended, lawmakers made a number of changes to state law to address problems of chronic abuse and neglect of youths in juvenile detention centers. Lawmakers also called for DJJ Commissioner Vicki Reed to step down, although Gov. Andy Beshear said he still supports Reed.
In the newest suit against the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, which oversees DJJ, David Richardson said he worked from January to March as a social service worker at the Adair Youth Development Center in Adair County.
On March 6, Richardson said, he helped colleagues to physically restrain a youth at the facility without difficulty. Richardson said he was a high school wrestling champion and is currently a professional mixed martial artist, and when he asked the youth if he was finished resisting the staff, the youth agreed that he was.
“However, Assistant Superintendent Christopher Rakes shouted at David, ‘I need him in compliance,’ indicating to David to bend the youth’s arm back more,” the suit alleges.
Richardson said he refused to bend the youth’s arm further because there was no need for it, according to the suit.
“David pleaded with Rakes, telling Rakes, ‘He is in compliance, he is in compliance’ and that there was no reason to bend the youth’s arm any farther,” the suit alleges.
“Another staff worker then pushed David to the side, grabbed the youth’s arm and cranked it back until the youth yelled out in pain,” the suit alleges. “Rakes roared to David and everyone else, ‘Now THAT’S compliance.’”
That night, Richardson emailed the facility superintendent, Tonya Burton, to report the abuse, the suit alleges. He was fired days later, on March 14, as an act of retaliation, the suit alleges. There was no legitimate reason to fire him, the suit alleges.
Richardson’s attorney, Thomas Coffey of Louisville, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
In a prepared statement, the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said Richardson was “released from probation for several instances of misconduct,” without further elaboration on that point.
“The video of the incident referenced ... was reviewed by facility leadership and the restraint was determined to be appropriate,” said cabinet spokeswoman Morgan Hall.
“DJJ does not retaliate against staff or youth for reporting misconduct,” Hall said. “Facilities routinely encourage contacting the facility’s superintendent and/or the Internal Investigations Branch of the cabinet when misconduct is witnessed, which allows corrective action to be taken as needed ensuring safety and security is upheld.”
In the previous suit filed by the nurses, in Franklin Circuit Court, Burton and Alvarado said they tried to provide compassionate medical care for youths held at the same juvenile detention facility in Adair County, and especially for a 17-year-old girl with worsening mental health who was locked in isolation for extended periods.
However, the facility administration and some of its security staff harassed the medical staff for wanting to give proper health care and safe living conditions to the youths. Medical staff were bullied, belittled and cursed at by adult colleagues once they reported mistreatment of youths up the chain of command, the nurses said.
The Justice Cabinet has filed a motion to dismiss the nurses’ lawsuit. Among its reasons, the cabinet says the nurses waited too long to sue, and it cites the state’s legal liability shield under sovereign immunity. Also, the cabinet says, the girl referenced in the nurses’ suit was an unusually difficult case for whom the state made its best efforts.
“In fact, DJJ referred (the girl) D.B. several times for outside treatment, but she has been denied by every DJJ-contracted provider because of her criminal charges, extreme aggressive behavior, assaults on staff and peers, and property damage,” the cabinet wrote in its motion to dismiss last month.
“This has impeded DJJ’s ability to find a consistent placement for D.B. either in-state or out-of-state, despite its repeated efforts,” the cabinet wrote. “In total, D.B. has been placed in 20 therapeutic foster homes, 14 psychiatric hospitals, six acute hospitals, eight detentions centers and four residential treatment facilities.”
When the girl turned 18 in January, the state moved her to Western State Psychiatric Hospital in Hopkinsville, where she remains, the cabinet wrote.
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 11:59 AM.
