The Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) is a state agency in Texas, headquartered in the Central Services Building (CSB) in Austin. It was created on December 1, 2011, replacing the

Texas Youth Commission The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was a Texas state agency which operated juvenile corrections facilities in the state. The commission was headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin. As of 2007, it was the second largest juvenile corre ...

and the

Texas Juvenile Probation Commission The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC) was a state agency of Texas, headquartered in the Brown-Heatley Building in Austin. As of December 1, 2011, the agency was replaced by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The TJPC oversaw county-o ...

History

The implemented changes occurred after the 82nd

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ar ...

abolished the Texas Youth Commission due to the scandals surrounding this agency that was responsible from 1957 to 2011. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department was established by the legislature to manage and oversee the agencies that were abolished. There is a board that includes 11 members that are responsible for overseeing juvenile justice services from entry to the discharge of the youth; the board was selected by the Governor of Texas with

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...

approval.

Criticism

The TJJD has gone through several iterations of major and moderate reform following scandals marked by sexual abuse and violence, including a full rebranding from the

in 2011. In 2021, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

announced that it would examine whether children detained in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s five lockups are reasonably protected “from physical and sexual abuse by staff and other residents, excessive use of chemical restraints and excessive use of isolation.” The investigation followed an incident reported in July when a detention officer was arrested for allegedly touching the breast of an 18-year-old detainee. In August 2022, ''

The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternati ...

'' reported on severe understaffing in the prisons that routinely left children inside cells alone for up to 23 hours a day, forcing them to use water bottles and food trays as toilets. Almost half of the nearly 600 kids in the prisons had been on suicide watch. In response, a youth-led criminal justice reform group, Finish the 5, spent the next five months at the Texas state Capitol, urging lawmakers to close Texas’ five remaining juvenile prisons. The Finish the 5 campaign, led by the Texas Center for Justice and Equity, proposes phasing out the five prisons by 2027.

Facilities

Juvenile offenders are court ordered to reside in Texas Juvenile Justice Department facilities. The detained individuals must be at least 10 years of age and no older than their 19th birthday. Most juvenile records are sealed as this will allow the youth to gain a second opportunity, but there are exceptions to sealing records as those individuals that commit serious crimes may be required to complete their sentence in an adult system, therefore unable to get their records sealed. Texas Juvenile Justice Department operates and maintains institutions and

halfway houses A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...

statewide. Several of the juvenile detention centers are public and privately operated facilities. Texas Juvenile Justice Department maintains records and registry of the registered facilities in operation. Detained young offenders can only be placed in detention centers that are registered by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, under th
Texas Family Code
Registered facilities house, educate, train and rehabilitate young offenders, the treatment and programs are based on the needs of the individual within the facility. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department includes high, medium and low security facilities. A high security facility is fenced and the majority of juvenile offenders that are placed in a high security facility tend to complete their sentence in a correctional institution. The medium to low facilities are not fenced and consist of houses that the Texas Juvenile Justice Department operates or contracts with outside

organizations An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

to provide low to medium treatment for the juvenile offender. According to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department report of 2011, the total amount of secure facilities registered include "34 post-adjudication, 31 public and 3 privately operated; 49 pre-adjudication facilities, 47 public and 2 privately operated". Institutions: * Evins Regional Juvenile Center - ''

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

'' Hidalgo County *

Gainesville State School The Gainesville State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in unincorporated Cooke County, Texas, near Gainesville. The fenced, maximum security state school is located on a tract east of Gainesvill ...

- ''unincorporated'' Cooke County *

Giddings State School Giddings State School is a juvenile correctional facility of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department located in unincorporated Lee County, Texas, near Giddings.Lee County * Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex (Unit I) - Formerly Brownwood State SchoolFacility Address List
. Texas Youth Commission. February 2, 2002. Retrieved on May 6, 2010. - Brownwood ** Serves as the admissions and orientation center for the TJJD inmates. All girls in secure residential care remain at Ron Jackson. In addition boys who are younger are in the Ron Jackson young offenders program. Most male students stay at Ron Jackson for orientation for about four to six weeks. ** A public road separates Units I and the former Ron Jackson Unit II, which operated independently from Unit I under the

.Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex Unit II
. Texas Youth Commission. Retrieved on June 16, 2010. The facility is named after former TYC director Ron Jackson. ** Unit I houses the gateway program for females entering the TYC system. Most females in TYC remain at Ron Jackson SJCC I. Some girls may be placed in the WINGS mother-child and pregnant girl program and contract facilities. Unit I has been a female-only complex since it opened in September 1970. * McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility (Unit I and Unit II) - ''unincorporated''

McLennan County McLennan County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 260,579 . Its county seat and largest city is Waco. The U.S. census 2021 county population estimate is 263,115. The county i ...

, near

Mart Mart may refer to: * Mart, or marketplace, a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods * Mart (broadcaster), a local broadcasting station in Amsterdam * Mart (given name) * Mart ( ...

How Offenders Move Through TYC
". Texas Youth Commission. Retrieved on May 6, 2010.
". Texas Youth Commission. Retrieved on July 19, 2010.Mart city, Texas
".

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

. Retrieved on May 6, 2010. ** As of 2011 units I and II were combined into one facility.TYC Announces Closure of Three Facilities
". Texas Youth Commission. Retrieved on July 3, 2011. The TYC governing board's original agenda had plans to close both McLennan County units, but the board changed its plans.Texas Youth Commission to consolidate Mart facility
().

KCEN KCEN-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Temple, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on North 3rd Street in downtown Temple, with a news bureau and ...

. June 3, 2011. Retrieved on August 29, 2011. The units are about south of

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

. ** It formerly housed admissions and orientation for male TJJD inmates. Halfway houses: * Ayres House -

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

* Brownwood Halfway House - Brownwood (closed) * Cottrell House -

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

* McFadden Ranch - Roanoke * Schaeffer House -

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

* Edna Tamayo House - Harlingen * Willoughby House - Fort Worth * York House - Corpus Christi * Karen's House -

Willis, Texas Willis is a city in Montgomery County, Texas, United States, located eight miles north of Conroe in north central Montgomery County. The city began to develop in 1870 after what is now the Union Pacific Railroad built track through the area. As a ...

Former facilities: *

Corsicana Residential Treatment Center The Corsicana Residential Treatment Center or the Corsicana State School was a juvenile correctional facility in Corsicana, Texas. Operated by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), and later the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD), it was used for ...

Corsicana Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-business ...

** The center was for youth with mental illnesses or severe emotional disturbances - Closed in 2013 * Beto House -

McAllen McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...

TJJD Facilities
" Texas Department of Juvenile Justice. June 17, 2013. Retrieved on December 19, 2015. "Turman House 7308 Cameron Road PO Box 14866 Austin, Texas 78752" * Turman Halfway House - Austin

Programs

CoNEXTions CoNEXTions is an integrated, system-wide rehabilitative program offering various therapeutic techniques and tools that are used to help individual TJJD youth. The name, CoNEXTions, stems from the basic goal of the program – to prepare youth to take the NEXT step, to connect youth to healthy, law-abiding relationships with their peers, families, and communities".CoNEXTions Program
. CoNEXTions Program Information. Retrieved April 15, 2014. Educational Programs' TJJD has year round education for incarcerated youth in each of their institutional schools. The faculty at these schools are TJJD employees. The students also participate in all state required assessments as well as the national test, Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) Workforce Development Program A program to help prepare the youth to successfully enter the workforce and maintain employment. PAWS (Pairing Achievement With Success) In the PAWS program, TJJD youth are assigned a canine for a minimum of 12 weeks. The TJJD youth are completely responsible at all times for their dog. At the end of the 12-week program, there is an Adoption Day held where the youth helps show the dog and its new tricks to new owners looking to adopt a pet.

Demographics

As of 2016, of the children under TJJD jurisdiction, including confinement in secure facilities, youth parole, contract facilities, and halfway houses, 3,925 (93.68%) were U.S. citizens and 224 (5.35%) were Mexican citizens. Other countries include Australia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Funding

TJJD gets its funding from the

in grant form. TJJD got its funds through th
State Financial Assistance Contract
that encompasses grants to each of the 165 local juvenile departments. Most of the funding comes from the local county government. The TJJD grants goes toward operating juvenile probation departments, juvenile detention and correctional facilities and providing basic and special services to children in the juvenile probation system. According to the TJJD website, "In fiscal year, 2012 county funding accounted for approximately 72% of total juvenile probation funding while state and federal funding accounted for approximately 28%"
In fiscal year, 2014
Border Project got a contract for $100,000.00. Commitment Reduction Program got a contract for $19,883,584.00. Family Preservation got a contract for $2,243,007.66. Harris County Leadership Academy got a contract for $1,000,000.00. IV-E Contracts got a contract for $1,253,620.54. JJAEP Start-up Operations got a contract for $3,718,896.00. Mental Health got a contract for $12,783,403.29. Special Needs Diversionary got a contract for $1,974,034.00. State Aid got a contract for $108,337,312.00. Total Fiscal Year 2014 Contracts got a contract for $151,586,485.49. Truancy Prevention got a contract for $292,628.00.

Headquarters

Texas Juvenile Justice Department Austin

The agency is headquartered in the Central Services Building (CSB) in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. The TJJD was previously headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin.TYC Contact Names and Phone Numbers
. ''Texas Youth Commission''. Retrieved on March 10, 2009. Brown-Heatley, a seven story, , has a six story, parking garage. DSG Austin provided the facility's fire alarm system. At the end of April 2013, as part of a building space swap with the

Texas Health and Human Services The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is an agency within the Texas Health and Human Services System. In September 2016, Texas began transforming how it delivers health and human services to qualified Texans, with a goal of makin ...

, the TJJD was scheduled to relocate to Braker H Complex,TJJD Move Update
.
Archive
Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Retrieved on March 26, 2013. a private leased space in north Austin. It includes two loading docks, an IT training room, warehouse space, open office landscapes (OOLs), hard-wall offices, 11 conference rooms with capacities ranging from 8 to 110 persons, an employee break room, secure OIO, OIG, and IT areas, and an exterior deck. The Braker H facility had more space than the current Brown-Heatley area. The groups moving into the new facility included TJJD central office staff members previously on the second, third, and fifth floors of the Brown-Heatly building, the Office of the Independent Ombudsman, and the TJJD Austin District Parole Office. In 2022, the TJJD moved from Braker H to the CSB.
Accessed from this page
/ref>

References

External links

Texas Juvenile Justice Department
* Ward, Mike.

. '' Austin American-Statesman''. Monday December 5, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Juvenile Justice Department, Texas State agencies of Texas Penal system in Texas Juvenile detention centers in Texas

Texas Juvenile Justice Department The Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) is a state agency in Texas, headquartered in the Braker H Complex in Austin. It was created on December 1, 2011, replacing the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. Histor ...

2011 establishments in Texas

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Government agencies established in 2011