Report: Violence, harassment, vacancies plague Indian River juvenile prison

Months after a string of assaults and riots at a state youth prison, a new report shows an alarming rise in violence, a spike in reports of sexual harassment and abuse, a dramatic jump in kids being kept in their rooms and long waitlists for drug counseling at the facility.

Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility in Massillon saw a 20% rise in fights, disturbances and other violent events in 2022 over 2021, according to a report by the Corrections Institutions Inspection Committee. The committee staff conducted an announced inspection on Feb. 9.

Teens at Indian River, which employs 294 people and houses about 154 juveniles, launched two riots in October, taking over a housing unit and then two weeks later barricading themselves in a school building. The second disturbance, which kids livestreamed on Facebook via a state laptop, caused $265,000 in damages.

Investigative ReportOhio youth prison system struggles with violence, staff vacancies

The Correctional Institution Inspection Committee report paints a picture of staff struggling to manage amidst high vacancy rates and deteriorating conditions for the teens and young adults incarcerated at the facility.

Here are some of the findings:

• No one changed the locks following two disturbances in October that involved teens stealing keys.
• Officials moved six of the dozen juveniles involved in the Oct. 22 riot to Circleville JCF, where they caused a similar incident.
• One in seven juveniles at Indian River are known to be in gangs and gang participation rose 22% between 2020 and 2022. The top manager post on gang issues has been held by temporary staff since September.
• Allegations of sexual harassment and assault spiked to 24 in 2022, up from 7 in 2021 and 6 in 2020.
• Nearly one-third of the behavioral health positions are vacant. Sixty-nine teens are on the waitlist for drug abuse counseling.
• One in four juveniles say they've been harassed or threatened by staff, up from 16% in 2022.
• Juveniles spent nearly 45,000 hours in seclusion − after misconduct, by choice, for medical reasons or other reasons − in 2022. That's up from 18,270 hours in 2021 and 7,671 in 2020. The huge bump in seclusion hours is due to staffing shortages.

More:Ohio fires 2, demotes another after 'negligence,' supervision woes at Indian River prison

The Ohio Department of Youth Services declined to comment on the report, saying it is a draft that contains inaccuracies.

DYS Director Amy Ast sent a letter to the committee members on Thursday detailing her concerns and noting that inaccurate data regarding sexual harassment and abuse had been provided to the committee staff. She said the number of allegations in 2022 was six, not 24.

Ast also took issue with how the report describes the October riots.

Five days before inspectors showed up for the February review, DYS released a 52-page internal investigation and announced the firing of the Indian River superintendent Jim Darnell and Shawn Anders, the gang intervention specialist. DYS initiated the investigation on Sept. 26, 2022.

Cyan Blackwell, policy strategist for the ACLU of Ohio, said the report shows the Indian River facility is in regression.

"The report shows us that youth are feeling increasingly unsafe within Indian River while experiencing inadequate behavioral health services, significant seclusion hours, and abuse," she said. "The results of the inspection reveal the need for intervention and more oversight to improve the overall health and operations of the facility."