A staffer for the company that manages Arkansas' youth lockups omitted key information while reporting two incidents, including one in which a direct care worker threatened to kill a teenager and had to be restrained, according to a state ombudsman.
The Rite of Passage, Inc. staffer's report left out the threatening words and other employees' attempts to physically restrain the direct care worker, according to documents obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette through a public records request.
The omissions kept the state from immediately acting on the incidents, according to emails from Brooke Digby, the state's juvenile ombudsman. Both incidents occurred at the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center in Alexander.
Rite of Passage, the Nevada-based company that manages Arkansas' four youth lockups, is also undergoing a state-ordered corrective action plan. It addresses, in part, lags in the firm's reporting of incidents that "may affect the health and safety" of youths, staff or others at the facilities or that "disrupt the delivery of services," according to state policy.
Incident-reporting helps the state and company determine whether and how to respond, including terminating or suspending employees, adjusting security or opening child maltreatment investigations.
The for-profit company has a more-than-$70 million contract with the state that ends in 2023 to manage its youth lockups at Alexander, Dermott, Harrisburg and Mansfield. Juvenile judges send children who commit offenses to the facilities if they can't be treated at home.
Michael Cantrell, executive director for Rite of Passage, said in an interview that several administrators at Alexander review incidents and that staff members are undergoing training this month with state police on how to report incidents.
"We're all working to make this the best system possible for the kids," Cantrell said.
The firm is supposed to report incidents to the Arkansas Department of Human Services within eight hours. State law also stipulates that people in certain professions, known as mandated reporters, must call the state police's Child Abuse Hotline if they suspect child abuse or neglect. Youth lockup employees are among mandated reporters.
Rite of Passage took over day-to-day control at Dermott, Harrisburg and Mansfield on July 1, but has managed the Alexander center since 2016. All youths initially go to Alexander for assessments before they are placed in a facility.
In one of the two incident reports criticized by Digby, a company direct care worker threatened a teenager, saying "B--- you're dead," after the teen threw a plastic chair at him, according to the youth ombudsman's Oct. 4 email to Rite of Passage.
Digby's email and a state analysis of the Aug. 19 incident also quoted the direct care worker, Victor Davis, as saying: "stand and fight me like a man b--- since you wanna throw a chair."
Several other employees held Davis back to keep him away from the child, according to Digby's email. The threatening words and restraint are included in a Sept. 1 review of a video of the incident by Jacquelyn Potter, a Division of Youth Services research analyst, and referenced in Digby's emails.
Those details weren't in the initial incident report that Tyler Cox, a Rite of Passage youth advocate, made to the Division of Youth Services. Cox's report says Davis chased the youth, then called for assistance and staff were able to get the youth under control.
The omitted information resulted in Davis remaining in his role for another two weeks, during which time he "continued to make threatening remarks" to youths, Digby wrote. Davis was placed on administrative leave Sept. 2 and terminated Oct. 9, Department of Human Services department spokeswoman Marci Manley wrote in an email.
Attempts to reach Davis were unsuccessful.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette requested video of both incidents referenced in emails, but the Division of Youth Services denied the request citing an open investigation and the anonymity of minors.
Digby also criticized Cox's reporting of a Sept. 18 incident in which Alexander residents were left unsupervised and several juveniles severely beat a boy who had to be hospitalized.
She said Cox's vague reporting resulted in state police initially declining to investigate the incident. When Digby reported the same event, state police decided to look into it as a possible instance of "failure to protect."
Cox's report failed to mention that youths were left alone for five minutes when the attack occurred, Digby said in her email to Rite of Passage staff.
"As a result of poor supervision, we now have a youth in ICU who is lucky to be alive," the ombudsman wrote Sept. 24. Over the previous three weeks, Digby wrote, she'd submitted about five hotline reports to state police that were accepted for investigation. Facility staff had "failed to make them."
In an Oct. 2 response to Digby, Jasen Kelly, director at Alexander and a Republican state representative from Benton, said Cox is one of five advocates who reviews incident reports.
Kelly's email was labeled a "collaborative administrative response," sent on behalf of himself and three other Rite of Passage administrators, including executive director Cantrell.
In the email exchange, Digby asked that Cox be replaced, saying she was "no longer trustworthy" in making incident reports.
In the collaborative response email, Kelly called the ombudsman's accusations "unsupported" and "inappropriate." The email also argued that Digby was outside her authority under Arkansas law.
The Arkansas Legislature established the juvenile ombudsman position in 2010 to provide independent oversight of Division of Youth Services programs. It operates under the Arkansas Public Defender Commission.
As of Friday, no personnel action had been taken against Cox, according to the Human Services Department's Manley. Cox did not respond to requests for comment.
Cantrell said in an interview that staff at Alexander will this month undergo training from Arkansas State Police on how to make reports to the hotline. They'll then train staff at other facilities.
Company administrators also have been in contact with the state's Division of Youth Services, "to make sure we're on the same page with incident reporting," he said.
"Anytime we have incidents it's concerning, absolutely," Cantrell said. "And we look into all of our incidents because that's our job."
REPORTS DIFFER
An examination of documents shows sharp differences between what the company reported and what state examinations found in the two incident reports criticized by the state juvenile ombudsman.
Digby and state youth services staff member Potter, along with Rite of Passage's Cox, agree that the Aug. 19 incident began with the company's direct care worker, Davis, chasing a youth around the day area. The youth threw a chair at Davis that bounced and hit him in the legs.
Reports then differ.
Cox's, dated Aug. 31, says "Mr. Davis then proceeds to chase student ... around the podium. After a few laps around the podium, Mr. Davis calls for assistance. Unit Managers ... arrived and was able to get all students ... to their rooms without further incident."
Digby and Potter's accounts say more occurred before order was restored. Both quote Davis' threat to "kill" the youth and Potter details attempts to restrain him.
"Female staff says something while holding on to male staff's shirt and he says "f--- that" and continues to pursue the youth," Potter's report says. The youth continued to run away and did not go to his room.
" ... Female staff and several youth are holding the male staff back. Youth are encouraging [redacted] to get in his room but he refuses," the Sept. 1 emailed report reads.
Davis wanted to report the incident to police as an assault, according to Cox's report. Digby's emails say she spoke to police and, based on the evidence she reviewed, the teen did not assault Davis.
The state ombudsman and Rite of Passage's report agree that the second incident, in September, was violent and caused serious injury.
It began with juveniles hitting another teen in front of staff. About eight minutes later, the staffer left to clean a bathroom, according to Digby's emails.
Then juveniles attacked the teen, punching him in the face while he was in bed. He fell out of bed and the attackers began "stomping him in the head," according to Cox's report to the Division of Youth Services. His head was struck about 20 times.
Cox's report doesn't mention that the staff member who was supposed to supervise the youths was absent during the main attack.
Digby's emails do.
The staff member has been temporarily reassigned pending an internal investigation, Manley said.
Cantrell said Rite of Passage has been in contact with the Division of Youth Services to ensure that expectations regarding incident reporting are clear.
"[We're] making sure that it's done thoroughly and it's done timely and making sure that it's done on both sides," he said.
Cantrell also said that sometimes incidents are interpreted differently by people who are not working with the youths and don't know everything that led up to the report.
"I think to people who are working there every day and see incidents, it may look one way," he said. "But it might look differently to someone else."
Michael Crump, the state youth services director, said after the incidents and email exchanges that his agency had conversations with Rite of Passage about ensuring the terms of the contract are met.
"I feel like it's been brought to everyone's attention," Crump said. " ... I don't know that anything is ever completely resolved. For now, I feel like there's an understanding of our expectations so in that sense it's been resolved."
LAGS IN REPORTING
In its request for a corrective action plan, the state Division of Youth Services said Rite of Passage lagged in reporting at least 110 incidents that affected the health and safety of those on campus or disrupted services between July 1 and mid-August.
Employees should enter information into a computer program called Rite Track within eight hours, state officials said in interviews.
In most instances, employees called the Division of Youth Services' on-call staffer, but didn't enter information into the computer system. The delay in reporting caused a backlog, said Crump.
Rite of Passage promised to train up to 10 additional staffers in Rite Track, according to the state's letter of acceptance for the firm's corrective action plan.
Cantrell said the reporting delays, along with other issues listed in the state's corrective action plan request, occurred while Rite of Passage focused on transitioning to manage all four of the state's youth lockup facilities.
The company submitted its corrective action plan Sept. 13, missing the deadline that was 10 days after the department sent its Aug. 17 request. The delay occurred because the company, which had never done an Arkansas corrective action plan, initially contested the problems.
"I believe that their initial response was to say, 'We take issue with what you are citing us with,' " said Keesa Smith, the state's deputy director for children, youth and families. "We had to explain this is not up for debate."
While Rite of Passage's Cantrell now better understands the state's corrective action plan system, he said, the company objected to problems cited because some were "flat out wrong."
The state accepted the company's corrective action plan Oct. 8.