As COVID-19 Measures Grow, Prison Oversight Falls
“We now have no idea what’s going on inside.”
When two inspectors showed up at a juvenile prison in north Texas late last year, they heard about kids beating each other up, recruiting for gangs and dismantling their cinder-block cells. One kid had begun extorting his peers so he could hoard basic hygiene supplies; another said he was so scared of getting robbed he’d started carrying around his shampoo.
But if that chaos is continuing at the Gainesville State School, there’s no real way to know: The state’s independent monitor for juvenile prisons has suspended its monthly visits because of COVID-19. So
