Third leader this year takes over at Evins

AUSTIN - Turnover that has put three different leaders in charge at the Edinburg youth prison in recent months could stifle reform at the facility even as federal officials continue to monitor conditions there, some experts said.

Texas Youth Commission leaders said the turnover at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center is not a problem. Leadership is stable and the facility is improving, they said.

All of TYC has been under a microscope since a sex-abuse scandal at a West Texas facility was reported in February. But Evins has a history of problems that goes back more than two years earlier.

Youth rioted there in late 2004 and guards abused detainees in the aftermath. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was investigating Evins for possible violations of civil rights. DOJ confirmed the violations earlier this year and remains in negotiations with state lawyers to determine what changes the state must make.

Some turnover during this reform period is expected, but having three superintendents this year doesn’t instill confidence in the system for youth, parents, the pubic or federal authorities who are watching TYC closely, said Isela Gutierrez, coordinator of the Texas Coalition Advocating Justice for Juveniles.

“Evins is still in a position to bring Texas into federal litigation,” she said.

The turnover makes it harder for youth and employees to concentrate on improving, said Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, author of the reform bill that gave TYC directions on how to turn the agency around.

“It slows down the process and makes it a little bit more difficult to convince the Department of Justice that everything is under control,” Hinojosa said.

Officials with the Department of Justice did not respond to questions about the Evins negotiations.

TYC spokesman Jim Hurley pointed to the fact that the current superintendent worked closely with the previous one as evidence that youth there have had continuity in leadership.

“Evins is making progress. Every facility is making progress,” Hurley said.

But morale is low among TYC employees, who already feel run-down from work at the understaffed agency, said Seth Hutchinson, an organizer with the Texas State Employees.

Re-learning how to deal with three bosses in a short period of time makes matters worse, he said.

“Any time you get a new boss, you’re going to be anxious about them, and when it happens every couple months and you add that to the stress of the job, it’s cause for some serious problems,” Hutchinson said.

In April, TYC officials announced they were firing Evins superintendent Bart Caldwell. Hurley said he was fired for performance problems, including a failure to implement reform measures.

Eddie Martinez was then moved from Giddings, the Central Texas lockup for capital offenders, to take over. Officially, he stayed five months before he retired, but his successor, Melody Vidaurri, said she was working with him during part of that time.

Vidaurri, who was previously the Austin-based director of security for TYC, said she’s gone to great lengths to change the culture at Evins. She has moved to the Valley and plans to stay at Evins, she said.

They’ve added lights to the employee parking lot, cameras to all corners of campus, native plants in the front entrance and caught up on the maintenance to-do list. Construction is expected to begin in December on the first of two dorms scheduled for conversion from an open-bay design into single-room dorms so detainees have privacy.

She said she is interviewing candidates for new correctional officers and hopes to hire an additional 32 people in the next two months. Existing guards get an additional 80 hours of training, which should result in fewer injuries to staff and youth, she said.

She’s also creating incentives to encourage detainees to behave. For example, dorms that don’t have behavioral problems for a period of time are rewarded with a movie and popcorn.

“We are moving forward in giving them things to do other than fight with each other,” she said.

Conditions have improved since riots in 2004, but problems remain, said Will Harrell, the TYC detainee ombudsman who visited Evins the weekend of Oct. 13. He was disturbed that Evins guards are using pepper spray at a higher rate than other facilities, he said.

Guards sprayed youth 22 times in August and 29 times in September, Vidaurri said. There were four cases so far in October.

Vidaurri said she does not think the numbers are too high, but expects them to come down as confrontations decrease. In all the cases, guards were found to have followed proper procedure, she said.

Harrell said he thought Martinez was taking Evins in the right direction, and with every change of leadership there’s a “stutter-step” in any facility’s reform, Harrell said.

“If it’s the kid’s individual caseworker up to the superintendent of the facility, change creates unrest,” he said.

Superintendents at Evins Regional Juvenile Center this year

Name Start Date End date Reason for leaving

Bart Caldwell Jan. 5, 2005Aug. 31, 2007*Fired

Eddie Martinez May 1, 2007Sept. 30, 2007Retired

Melody VidaurriOct. 1, 2007Current superintendent

*Caldwell stepped down in April, but his official departure date came after termination proceedings completed.

Source: Texas Youth Commission records