Advocacy Groups Say TYC Ignoring Court Order on Pepper Spray

The Associated Press

The Texas Youth Commission is violating a court order regulating the use of pepper spray against incarcerated youths, two advocacy groups claim in court filings.

Advocacy Inc. and Texas Appleseed sued the troubled youth corrections agency Sept. 13 over its increased use of pepper spray and are now asking a Travis County state court to force the agency to comply with the Sept. 28 court order.

Under that order, commission officials agreed to give the groups a copy of a letter advising employees of restrictions on pepper spray, as well as details of all incidents in which pepper spray had been used since Jan. 1.

Jim Hurley, a commission spokesman, said "it was my understanding we were providing them with those reports ... and the memo we sent out (reinstituting earlier restrictions on the use of pepper spray) has been pretty widely circulated."

Jim George, an Austin attorney who chairs the Texas Appleseed board, said: "We had an agreed order signed by a judge, and they have not complied with it. It's unusual for people to say to a district judge, 'I will do something' and then just not do it."

In the court filing, the groups claim commission staff members have used pepper spray in violation of both the court order and agency policy. They also claim that administrators at TYC facilities have been instructed to use pepper spray on youth, in violation of the Sept. 28 court order.

No hearing date has been set.

In their original lawsuit, the groups claimed that Dimitria Pope, the agency's acting executive director, illegally widened the use of pepper spray as a first response to control youths. Under state law, such a change should have been made only after giving the public a chance to comment on the change, the lawsuit stated.

Pope argued that using pepper spray was preferable to physical restraints, which she said caused too many injuries to youths and staff members.