Terror in lockup: Part III

In B-4, things were not much easier for Chris.

The boys all masturbated into a latex glove and threw it at him. They also hit him with a Bible and shower shoes.

Then, the shift changed and a different woman staff member arrived. Chris was desperately looking for help.

"I stuck my hand out the door, and I clenched my fist so I could somehow get staff's attention," he says.

The woman said Chris was lying with his mattress on the floor in front of the door and "had a frightened look on his face. I could tell something was wrong with him."

She moved her chair next to the cell and tried to reassure him, saying, "It's OK. I'm sitting here. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

Thursday morning, Chris told a worker he wanted to report an incident. He wrote a brief statement but eventually told the entire story.

Chris says he repeatedly asked every worker he saw Thursday if he could call his mother and his attorney. He was told that was not appropriate.

The Human Services Department handbook given to the boys when they enter O&A states: "Upon request from a juvenile, the juvenile caseworker shall contact an attorney by phone."

Attorney James Luffman of Rogers filed a 1991 federal lawsuit that eventually led to the closing of the Pine Bluff Youth Services Center.

"Juveniles have more rights than adults do. Of course, they have a right to call an attorney if they are abused. Absolutely," he said.

When Chris complained about the boys masturbating in the cell, he says he was told, "When boys are locked up, they do that."

Unknown to Chris, his mother called that day to check on him. She was told he was on lock-down, and she couldn't talk with him. A nurse examined him, but he asked to see a doctor. He said he was afraid he might have AIDS. He was taken to a hospital on that Friday, but his family was not alerted.

Generally, when boys go outside the facility to a hospital, Division of Youth Services officials contact the family.

His mother called again on Saturday but was told he could not come to the phone.

The Arkansas State Police arrived Monday to interview Chris. That morning, a DHS worker notified his mother that he allegedly had been sexually abused -- five days earlier.

Chris' mother was frantic. "It started to sink in. This happened to my son! I began yelling, 'You're supposed to be protecting my child.' "

She wanted to bring him home. "I called everyone I could think of to get him out of there."

She called Judge Branton, the governor's office, Human Services Department Director Lee Frazier, other department officials, the after-care worker, and her attorney. She was told there was nothing she could do that day.

Two days later, she was given an emergency pass to take her son home.

"I just could not believe it," she says. "I had taken steps to help Chris, and I felt I was partly to blame for him being in there."

News of the incident spread rapidly in O&A, in part, because one of the boys from B-1 bragged about it during a morning meeting with a staff member and other boys from the unit.

The boy said Rouse had put Chris in B-1 "so that they could scare him," records state.

The boy from B-1 "told me that he had made some rude remarks to Chris, that he was gonna take his manhood and he was gonna take his [food] tray and something to that effect," the staff member told investigators. "He told me he was only playing with him, but I don't know."

When the boys from B-1 were interviewed by Gary Staggs of the DYS Internal Affairs Unit, they said they had been told by Rouse to frighten Chris and his cellmate.

Then they added another twist.

Three of the four admitted tormenting Chris. The fourth, the one involved in the alleged sexual assault, denied doing anything to Chris.

But the three boys said they were pulled aside by Rouse shortly after the incident and told "to get their stories straight."

Two boys said they were told to lie about it. One of them said Rouse suggested they tell investigators that Chris had caused problems by bullying the other four boys in the cell.

The third boy said she did not tell them to lie but only "to get their stories straight."

The Human Services Department released portions of the report by Staggs in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. He concluded:

  • Rouse and Jones endangered the safety or welfare of the two boys by placing them in B-1 when they knew it would result in violence toward the boys.
  • Rouse falsified entries in the logbook. Staggs said she reported that the pod was secure when in fact "she had knowledge that juveniles were complaining of being attacked in room B-1."
  • Rouse racially discriminated against the boys "when she made statements that juveniles [who were white males] were going to learn their lesson for calling a black woman names and not respecting her."
  • Rouse violated policy when she instructed the teen-agers involved in the harassment and assault to be deceptive during a pending investigation.
  • Rouse attempted to cover up the incident by failing to write entries into the logbook concerning moving the teen-agers.
  • Rouse and Jones violated the unprofessional conduct policy by exposing the division and the department to legal actions and liability because of their actions.

Rouse was placed on leave with pay, and Jones has resigned, according to Human Services Department officials. Rouse did not respond to messages left on her answering machine seeking her comments for this article, and Jones did not respond to messages left at the DHS to be relayed to him.

On May 26, the Arkansas State Police notified Chris' mother that "there was credible evidence of child maltreatment by Rouse" and the juvenile involved in the alleged sexual assault.

The state police have opened a criminal investigation into the incident.

The FBI is investigating for possible violations of Chris' civil rights.

In December 1995, Rouse and Jones were also part of an allegedly abusive incident in which a boy named David G. was placed in a cell at O&A with two older boys who were told to teach him a lesson. The boys admitted they hit and spat on and screamed at David but denied that they sexually abused him.

Ten staff members were disciplined. Seven, including Jones, received written warnings. Rouse was given a counseling statement for not documenting the logbook.

Today, Chris is living with his mother. He had a job at a grocery store but quit after four weeks because he said he did not get along with the manager.

His mother says he has strong mood swings, and she would like to get him into counseling.

Chris would like to get his General Educational Development diploma and perhaps a degree in graphic arts.

"My dad told me when I stole cigarettes that one day I would end up as a ward of the state. I should have listened," he says.

"I've done my parents wrong, but I don't think I'm an evil kid," he says. "I keep asking what I did to deserve this."

What can he say to assure his parents he won't get into trouble again?

"Nothing," he admits. "Every other time I messed up, I said what they wanted to hear. But I didn't mean it. Now, I'm just going to have to show them."

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