What Do You Think It Taught The Other Residents?

Department of Children and Families (DCF) was back in the news this week, in an article in the Hartford Courant about how DCF is handling the Jane Doe case and its Pueblo Unit center a locked treatment program for troubled girls in Middletown CT.

The fight was reported in a press release by DCF and it mentioned only Jane Doe attacking the staff and it didn’t mention that other girls were involved and they were put into isolation rooms within the Pueblo Unit but Jane Doe was transferred to the boy’s detention facility.

The article was critical of the way DCF is running the Pueblo Unit; they criticize the high number of restraints used on the residents and number of injuries to the staff. But what caught my attention was this,

Katz's position is that the "Pueblo unit was highly stable before Jane Doe arrived and has been stable since she was transferred out."

Does this sound like it was highly stable when there were,

A high injury rate among and excessive work hours for the staff at Pueblo: At one point recently, six out of eight first-shift youth service officers were out on workers' compensation for restraint- and assault-related injuries. On second shift, at least three of the six youth officers were also out on injury leave at the same time. On third shift, the four youth officers on a few occasions were ordered to work 20-hour shifts. Supervisory staff at CJTS and Pueblo have had to fill in as direct-care workers to make up for the absences of the injured youth officers.

Assaults at Pueblo: DCF said there have been 25 staff "interventions," also known as restraints, at Pueblo since the unit opened in March. Each intervention was the result of some level of assaultive behavior. The actions were comprised of 11 restraints "that went to the floor" – the highest level of restraint. The other 14 were "standing" restraints, which include a staff member placing a hand on the shoulder of a girl to escort her to another location.

To me it sounds like it is highly unstable.

We don’t know what caused the fight or what lead up to the fight but I have to wonder how much the fact that Jane Doe is transgender had to do with the fight.

So what did her transfer teach the other residents? Do you think that the lesson that they learned was if you don’t like someone beat the crap out of them and they go away?