Reply #3: TYC close to settling two abuse cases [View All]

Many lawsuits likely to follow, which could ravage agency's budget

For the first time, the Texas Youth Commission is settling a claim brought over the agency's abuse scandal, individuals close to the proceedings said, agreeing to pay $30,000 to a former inmate who was brutally beaten by other inmates while in state custody in 2006.

Erik Rodriguez celebrated his April release from a Texas Youth Commission facility with his mother, Alice Smith. He said guards weren't at their post when four other inmates beat him. Officials also confirmed they're in final negotiations to settle a separate claim. But the youth corrections agency's legal problems may just be beginning: Juvenile justice advocates say dozens of lawsuits are in the works, and settling the first two could open the door for many more – potentially overwhelming the agency's budget.

"This settlement opens the floodgates for the literally dozens of families that have been devastated by this hideous, outlandish, outrageous conduct of a government agency," said James Myart, a civil rights attorney who represents the former inmate in the case, 19-year-old Erik Rodriguez.

Mr. Myart confirmed that Mr. Rodriguez has reached a settlement with the TYC but declined to give details, citing a confidentiality agreement.

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Do Schools’ Criminalization of On-Campus Fights Lead Black Youths into Downward Spiral?

Three of the Jena Six need to complete at least a year in high school to graduate, but they are virtually locked out of public schools in Louisiana.

“In Louisiana, once you’re expelled from a school in one parish, the other public schools do not accept you,” said Damon T. Hewitt, assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Following a fight with a white classmate on Dec. 4, 2006, Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and an unnamed juvenile were arrested and put out of Jena High School.

“Their educational opportunities have been derailed,” Hewitt told BlackAmericaWeb.com. It’s a phenomenon that studies show is occurring more frequently for black and brown youths, with continuing disparities in the rate of exclusion from educational opportunities"

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