5/24/21

By Josh Rubin

Here is what we know. BBC reports a case of sexual abuse at the child prison compound at Fort Bliss in West Texas. Other cases are rumored. The entire staff of a company providing what are called youth care workers is fired and replaced by staff of another company whose previous experience seems to be cleaning up floods and mold.

The Biden administration announces that it has abandoned plans to house even younger children at the same facility. Its plans to expand capacity remain in place. The HHS secretary defends the prisons for children, asserting confidently that they are not as traumatic as other things the children have experienced.

Reports of long stays for many at these facilities betray the fact that the placement of these children with family takes a distant second in importance to detaining them where few can reach them.

It appears to me that nothing has been learned from the lessons of Tornillo and Homestead. They need a refresher course.