Indian children incarceration
rate 40% higher than whites
http://www.lakotajournal.com
July 26-August 2, 2002 edition
By Ruth Steinberger
Lakota Journal Correspondent
PLANKINTON — The Gina Score memorial was on the third anniversary of the death of
the 14 year old who died from heat exhaustion while in custody of the State of South Dakota.
Nearly 20 people attended the event which was held at the cite of the now closed facility where
Gina died. The memorial event was organized by the Parents Who Care Coalition, a group
of parents with children who are or were in the South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC).
Families with youth recently in the DOC system, Parents Who Care Coalition organizers and
others who support changes in the state juvenile justice system attended the afternoon event.
Prayers were read and balloons were released commemorating youth who have suffered and
perished in juvenile corrections systems. At least four youth have died while in South Dakota DOC custody.
Gina Score died while on a forced run in the state run juvenile boot camp at Plankinton. She
lay on the ground in the sun for over three hours without receiving medical attention after collapsing.
Boot camp Director Clay Ramsey along with other staff, refused to seek emergency medical care
after they saw the girl lying on the ground. Ramsey claimed she was faking her symptoms.
Only two lower-ranking staff members were charged in the death and both were acquitted.
Score’s death resulted in unprecedented publicity about the juvenile corrections system in
South Dakota, one of only two states in non-compliance with the federal Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention Act, a federal law designed to protect the interests of youth.
Deb Phillips was one of the organizers of the Parents Who Care Coalition.
Phillips said
that the ceremony highlighted the spirit of those working to change the treatment of youth in confinement.
However, she said most of the basic issues that were raised at the time of Score’s death remain
unresolved. This includes the incarceration of youth who have never committed a crime, but who
have been accused of truancy or running away from home.
Phillips said, “People are not
concerned enough about this issue. We need to increase public awareness. The parents
who are upset over the things that are happening to their children need to come forth.”
Phillips cited the fact that all candidates running for state and national positions in the upcoming
election were invited, however party lines divided those that responded
by phone call or e-mail and those who chose to ignore the invitation.
Stephanie Herseth, the Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives, responded by
e-mail. Herseth expressed her regrets at being unable to attend the event and said that
she considers this a serious issue that will involve a long-term and in-depth commitment.
Conversely, her opponent, Governor Bill Janklow did not respond to the invitation. Bob
Newland, independent candidate for Attorney General, attended the event. Ron Volesky,
Democratic candidate for Attorney General expressed his support for the event, but regretted
that he had other commitments at the time. Republican candidate for attorney general Larry
Long did not respond to the invitation. Alice Parker, spokesperson for Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Jim Abbot responded to the invitation, saying Abbott could not attend because of
prior commitments, but that he would have liked to have been there. Mike
Rounds, Republican gubernatorial candidate, did not respond to the invitation.
Lakota Journal asked Deb Phillips whether or not, based on comments or voting record, either
gubernatorial candidate appears to be willing to work to address juvenile justice issues.
She said, “Abbott seems willing to discuss these issues with us. However, Mike Rounds
voting record has been against the changes that we have wanted to see in the juvenile
corrections system. I would hope he would take the
time to listen to the families who have been affected by this.”
Margaret Gramkow, one of the original founders of Parents Who Care, was one of the
coordinators of the Gina Score memorial. Gramkow said that she was pleased with the
turnout at Saturday’s event but added, “We still need a lot of changes in juvenile justice in
South Dakota. We need to work on legislation in the next session. We need to do something
about the boot camp, and most of these kids need to be back home.
There is no reason for most of these kids to be taken away from home.”
Lakota Journal asked Gramkow if she felt the issues being discussed today are some of the
same issues that were significant at the time that Gina Score died. Gramkow said, “I believe
there is some of the same things still happening to kids in the system. I don’t believe we are
in need of a boot camp. What we need is more community placement and group homes for the
CHINS and the status offenders. We need a juvenile justice
system, but we need to have appropriate and good, positive programs.”
Gramkow has partnered her efforts with other groups in order to alert
organizations outside of South Dakota to what is happening to youth there.
CHINS refers to Children in Need of Services, which includes runaways or even juveniles
who are having problems in school.
The South Dakota DOC has
incarcerated some children for several years for offenses like skipping school
Gramkow said she believes that many youth are under the custody of DOC who does not need
to be handled through that system at all. She said that information from families with youth in the
system indicates that medical attention is not adequate, parents are not being informed about
what is happening to their children and she said they are being kept in the system way too long.
She cited the widespread use of private out-of-state facilities that charge the state of South
Dakota fees that are up to four times the cost of private programs that are paid for by
standard medical insurance. She said, “They can be pretty well taken care of in the state.”
Gramkow cited the fact that most of these are not juveniles who have been proven to have
highly specialized needs and she explained that one young man who is now in a private
facility in Colorado has been incarcerated for five years for being involved in breaking a couple
windshields when he was 12. She explained that the families are totally disrupted and most of
the youth become angry at the incarceration and leave the system worse then they were when they entered.
Gramkow and Phillips both have children who were incarcerated for status offenses and have
stated that the “treatment” by the DOC system has damaged their families.
Deb Phillips reflected on her continued support for the Parents Who Care Coalition
She said, “I guess the reason Gina Score and the Parents Who Care Coalition means so much
to me, is because Erin turned fourteen the day Gina died. That was around the time that I was
having trouble with the DOC, and her JCA, juvenile corrections agent. It scared me, not for
myself, but for her. That I could lose her in a system that was abusing children and destroying
their lives and the families was the most helpless feeling I have ever felt. Not to be able to
protect my child! No one should have to experience that alone without any support!”
Phillips has been appointed to the new State Advisory Group on juvenile justice,
and hopes to see the state come into compliance with federal law.
Phillips was asked if the issues that surfaced at the time of Gina’s death are resolved. Phillips said,
“They’re not resolved at all. Our state is still out of compliance with the OJJDP, and there’s still
incidents taking place. We recently heard of a child who was run to dehydration. There are still
kids who are mistreated and staff is still not trained properly. A parent told
us recently that their child had his head banged into wall at Custer.”
She said you could see from the parents the number of Indian families who are still affected by
this issue, explaining, “Oh, you can see the minorities. When you go to different functions that
have to do with the families of those in corrections, you can see how many of those families are
minorities. At the memorial walk, of those that attended only four or five were white and the
rest were Native Americans. That means that either Native Americans are more prone to
caring about people in jail, or are more likely to be directly affected by these issues.”
Phillips was referring to a memorial walk sponsored by the South Dakota Prisoners
Support Group that commemorated those who died in South Dakota jails and prisons.
Jennifer Ring, Director of ACLU of the Dakotas, attended the memorial event. Ring said,
“We get calls all the time from parents of youth in juvenile corrections. To this date, most
of the families who contact us are Native American families. It is clear that there have been
some changes made in juvenile corrections and some of those changes are improvements,
but there are still clearly problems. There are ongoing complaints about the healthcare that is
provided, and these are serious complaints. It is still the case that kids are going in for what
are minor offenses that should be handled in the community, and the state admits that it does
not have sight and sound separation of juveniles and adults in
some facilities.”
This separation is mandated under federal law.
Ring continued, “When you’re taking about native children as opposed to white children, it is
still the case that the majority of kids that are taken away for long periods of time are Native
American. Native kids go in for longer, stay in for longer and we are having problems getting
them back. One case that came to us involved two kids who have completed the programs,
but the state somehow found the families wanting, so they’re going to keep them. That’s not
an appropriate way to deal with that. If they find there is a problem with a Native American
family, as an official from the Cheyenne River Reservation pointed out, that sounds like an
ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) problem and they ought to be contacting the
tribe. Technically, the child is no longer a delinquent and so is covered by ICWA.”
Lakota Journal asked Ring if the state of South Dakota attempts to uphold the spirit of
ICWA. Ring said, “No, absolutely not. I don’t only think they
don’t uphold the spirit of ICWA, I don’t think they follow the law.”
Ring said, “If you look at the number of youth in juvenile corrections in South Dakota, and
you look at the percentage that are Native American, and that number is roughly 40% or
higher, you have to remember the tribes don’t send their kids there, so these are kids who
have been picked up for things that happened off reservation. Clearly what goes on in juvenile
corrections in South Dakota has a larger impact, by percentage, on Native communities than on white communities.”
She added that it is critical that juvenile corrections are viewed as a serious Native American
issue saying, “What happens to kids in juvenile corrections happens to Native kids. If that system
is broken, and it is, it is Native American children who are bearing the brunt of that break.
Phillips and Gramkow agreed that families of youth who are confined must become more
organized. They said that one tragedy of Gina Score’s death is that state officials failed to adequately
address these issues.
Both are willing to travel to work with groups throughout the state.
Families who want to become involved can call Margaret Gramkow at
(605) 334-3130 or Deb Phillips at (605) 269-2251.
(c) Lakota Journal 2002
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