THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606150014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 58 lines
Cooperation, not confrontation, should guide both state and federal officials as the U.S. Justice Department embarks on an investigation of the Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center in Powhatan County.
Allen administration officials are understandably concerned that an unprecedented federal probe of Virginia's largest facility for wayward youth is occurring on their watch. But the overcrowding that has magnified - and perhaps caused - Beaumont's troubles is rooted in policies set by Democrats also.
The initial responses by Gov. George Allen and Attorney General Jim Gilmore have been polite but frosty. Both men start by hailing juvenile-justice reforms approved by last winter's General Assembly. That's fine. However, they fail to mention that the plan will produce more crowding as violent juveniles come in for tougher treatment. Even with construction and community alternatives, the juvenile system is expected to be about 500 beds short by 2001.
Gilmore has answered a request for piles of information on Beaumont by insisting that the Justice Department first document evidence of ``egregious or flagrant conditions'' there. Federal law requires ``reasonable cause'' to suspect that such conditions exist.
Fair enough on Gilmore's part. The document list that the Justice Department has handed the state is exhaustive - and exhausting. It includes 23 categories and 17 subsets. The requests range from curricula vitae on every professional employee to details on each escape, assault, violent act, serious injury, death, fire, suicide or attempted suicide since 1994.
It should be no more difficult for the Justice Department to explain the charges and complaints that spurred its investigation. Some prisoners and their families have complained in press accounts of violent and abusive treatment. Overcrowding is rampant. But the state deserves to know more than generalities.
A request for blanket relief from mandates imposed on the state under the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act is less justified. Virginia and other states get federal money if they meet the act's requirements, including separating incarcerated juveniles and adults in most cases.
But there is a strong rationale for such separations. Before the act was adopted in the 1970s, young people held in custody with adults were frequently abused. Times have changed. Many of today's incarcerated youth are as violent as adults of yesteryear. But the law already allows young people who will be tried as adults because of the seriousness of their crimes to be held in adult facilities.
That is essentially where the co-mingling should stop. Some tinkering with the current system is probably justified. Selective waivers, such as are granted the states to experiment in welfare reform, might be useful. But across-the-board elimination of federal guidelines would do more harm than good.
It's natural for state officials to be defensive about overbearing demands from Washington. But the larger issue is the condition of life at Beaumont. In pursuing a safe environment for residents and personnel, state and federal officials should be on the same side. by CNB