The Yell County sheriff's office will replace the administrator of its juvenile detention center, a move that follows an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette investigation of the lockup that found staff members and local law enforcement used restraints and pepper spray for punishment.
Late Monday, the state Youth Services Division released a letter from the office of Yell County Sheriff Bill Gilkey informing the division that the lockup's director, Robin Barefield, would be replaced.
"In light of continued questions about the sincerity of our agency in instituting major cultural changes at the facility and questions about past incidents, Sheriff Gilkey and [Yell County Judge Mark] Thone have decided that we will be looking for a new director for the facility," wrote Chief Deputy John Foster.
The letter also contained more details on the sheriff's intention to hire an independent consultant to overhaul the 24-bed lockup.
The Youth Services Division received the letter Dec. 22, but neither the division nor the sheriff's office disclosed Barefield's departure from the facility in response to questions about changes there last week.
The Democrat-Gazette obtained the letter from the division through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Barefield, who will remain director until she is replaced, has refused to discuss the operation of the lockup or the use of restraints and pepper spray. She has referred questions to the sheriff's office.
Foster, who also serves as the sheriff's office spokesman, didn't respond to emailed questions Monday evening.
Amy Webb, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said the division received the letter last week, but she didn't know the details of Barefield's replacement.
"I don't know if she was fired or resigned. I don't know the circumstances around it," Webb said.
The Democrat-Gazette published stories this month that detailed how, in more than 100 cases, the detention center's staff members and local law enforcement used restraints, pepper spray and at times a combination of both to punish youths for nonviolent misbehavior.
The punishments were routinely employed for actions such as yelling, screaming, name-calling, banging on tables and doors and throwing soft objects such as socks and toilet paper.
Internal reports, obtained under the state Freedom of Information Act, also showed that top administrators at the facility, including Barefield, approved, and at times, participated in the punishments that violated state juvenile detention standards.
The punishments were used on youths in the Youth Services Division's custody for serious offenses who were held at the Yell County lockup while awaiting placement in other programs. Guards also punished youths detained at the facility under a judge's order for offenses including misbehaving at school.
In particular, the newspaper exposed five cases that two juvenile justice advocates with decades of experience in the proper operation of juvenile detention facilities called "barbaric," "dangerous" and clear civil rights violations.
One of the cases involved a sheriff's deputy pepper-spraying a girl who was immobilized in The Wrap -- her hands cuffed, legs bound with thick straps and chest strapped with a harness connected to her feet.
The deputy justified the action by saying the girl became "belligerent" with Barefield, who was trying to talk with the tied-up youth.
Barefield also witnessed a Danville police officer break a 13-year-old boy's arm in the lockup last March, a matter that was also chronicled by the newspaper.
A comparison of Barefield's report of the boy's behavior that night and surveillance video from inside the lockup found several discrepancies.
Barefield, who was the detention center's assistant director at the time, wrote in her report that the boy was aggressive and noncompliant with the officer and a Yell County deputy. She said he appeared to be getting ready to hit one of the officers, so they had to struggle with him. During the struggle, Barefield wrote, the boy pushed against one of the officers.
But surveillance video showed that the boy walked out of the cell within seconds of officers gesturing for him to come out. The boy also didn't appear aggressive or appear to resist the officers.
A state special prosecutor and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating what happened to the boy. The two officers have denied wrongdoing. The boy's parents also have sued several Yell County officials over the broken arm.
The boy wasn't in state custody when the officer broke his arm.
But the division has said that at least 20 youths in its custody were put in The Wrap and that three had been involved in specific cases detailed by the newspaper. Those included hogtying, putting a youth in The Wrap for six hours with only two brief breaks, pepper-spraying youths in restraints or using the chemical in response to "mouthing."
In response to the newspaper's disclosure of those cases, the Youth Services Division decided last week that it would stop sending youths to the lockup until it is satisfied the past incidents have been fully investigated.
Foster also said last week that the sheriff would be requesting an independent review of the facility, but he declined to say whether that would involve an outside law enforcement agency.
On Monday, Bill Sadler, spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, said that the agency hadn't been contacted by the sheriff about conducting an investigation.
The letter released by the Youth Services Division indicates that Gilkey plans to hire a consultant to conduct the review.
The sheriff is "seeking to hire an independent outside consultant to assist with the review of past incidents and a complete restructuring of the policies, procedures, operation and staff training at the facility," Foster wrote in the letter.
The sheriff's office removed The Wrap and pepper spray from the lockup on Oct. 1, and it is retraining the juvenile detention center's staff members on how to treat youths who become disruptive without resorting to restraint devices or punishment.
In the letter, Foster notes that employees are undergoing juvenile detention care-worker training, which was among the qualifications listed in a job posting for Barefield's replacement on the sheriff's office Facebook page Monday.
"Immediate opening for Juvenile Detention Facility Administrator. Person must have a Bachelor of Science degree in Rehabilitation Science, Sociology, Psychology or other related field. He/she must also receive National Juvenile Detention Careworker certification within 6 months of being hired. In lieu of a degree, five years of experience in the juvenile justice field will be acceptable," the post read.
A Section on 12/30/2014