The Yell County Juvenile Detention Center in Danville placed three employees on paid leave earlier this week due to substantiated allegations of child maltreatment.
A fourth person, who works at the juvenile detention center but is employed by the Danville School District, is also on leave for similar reasons.
Mike May, director of the juvenile detention center, said Friday that he couldn't disclose the names of the employees nor the specific circumstances that led to their placement on leave.
But May confirmed that he made the decision to place the employees on leave in accordance with a Division of Youth Services policy that doesn't allow employees on the state Child Maltreatment Registry to work with children in state custody, some of whom are housed at the 24-bed center.
A "true" child maltreatment finding determined by the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division or investigators from the Division of Children and Family Services results in placement on the registry.
Amy Webb, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said the Youth Services Division is notified when employees who come into contact with youths in the division's custody have been the subject of a "true" child maltreatment finding.
Webb said she couldn't confirm that the employees were the subject of child maltreatment investigations because of state confidentiality laws. But she confirmed that the Youth Services Division does have the policy that May described.
"We would not allow kids to remain in a facility if we were aware that a staff member had a true finding of maltreatment," she said. "Even if they were appealing a decision, we would not allow that."
Webb said she couldn't say whether the personnel actions related to a series of stories in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last year that found employees at the lockup routinely punished youths with restraints.
The punishments included the use of a full-body restraint known as The Wrap, a mechanical restraint chair, pepper spray and even a combination of the methods. The punishments were employed in response to nonviolent behavior such as throwing wet socks, name-calling and vulgar gestures.
In October, Yell County Sheriff Bill Gilkey -- who oversees the lockup -- removed the devices after he and the Youth Services Division learned how they were being used. He later removed the director and hired May to make changes to the facility.
May said the facility has changed from a punitive disciplinary system to a reward-based system.
"Whenever the kids act out, we take privileges away from them," he said. "We don't go from zero to 60."
May has instituted several programs aimed at helping youths control their behavior. He's encouraged several children to get their GED certificates, and he's started a movie night, birthday celebrations and a program in which youths who don't have regular visitors can request to have a member of the community visit them.
Webb said the Youth Services Division is pleased with the changes at the Yell County Juvenile Detention Center over the past several months.
"As we've said before, Yell County has been very open to working with us, participating in training and making an effort to truly change the culture out there. We continue to feel that way," she said.
Without the three detention officers, the lockup is down to 12 detention officers, who have switched from eight-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts as a result. But May said it hasn't changed the level of care at the facility, which housed about 20 youths Friday.
"[Youth Services Division monitors] were here today, and we ... got a clean bill of health. So far, it isn't something that we haven't been able to work through just by shifting people a little," he said.
Metro on 07/11/2015