A Crisis within DJJ

The Department of Juvenile Justice is in a crisis never witnessed before. Recent reports demonstrate a lack of leadership within DJJ that allows a toxic loss of morale to manifest itself. Meanwhile, executive branch officials are ignoring the needs of front-line workers who have repeatedly tried to communicate directly with them.

For two years, your legislature has received no communication from our Governor on any policy changes or additional resources needed to help him manage the DJJ. In fact, the Governor’s own recent budget proposal did not reflect the request from the Department of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. There are reports of assault, rioting, and even a gang rape of a minor in the state's custody. We find these reports reprehensible, and unforgivable, and the inaction from the executive branch intolerable.

“The Commonwealth needs a juvenile system that provides for our most troubled youth’s well-being and the Governor is missing the opportunity to change the path these children will travel. ”

The most immediate priority is ensuring the safety of staff members and the youth. Responsibly deploying defensive measures such as Tasers and pepper spray are but two measures to remedy the situation. Those defensive measures are appropriate only if used judiciously by properly trained adults.

Elected officials met during the interim period because of what’s at stake and are appalled at what we've uncovered.  Kids are locked away 24 hours a day and are not allowed access to basic recreation or a shower. The excuse is understaffing and that it’s simply a more convenient way to maintain order. Workforce issues are challenging but when children are denied food, water and basic self-care, we have a real problem.  We do not cast blame on overstressed and overworked facility staff, who are doing all they can with what they have.  The buck stops with facility administration, the department, the cabinet, and ultimately the Governor himself. After having discussions with those working closest with the children in the Commonwealth’s care, it seems upper management is where the problem resides.

You can't have an effective organization without effective leadership. The lack of leadership at the cabinet level and with our executive branch demonstrates that until now no one there was paying attention.  They are ignoring the problem hitting them squarely in the face and failing to fulfill their basic responsibilities. Adding security measures and a new chief of safety is an admission that no one in the DJJ chain of command is actually doing their job. At best, the Beshear administration is moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic.

From our workgroup discussions, it seems the front-line workers cry out to DJJ leadership but their pleas fall on deaf ears.

Lack of communication is apparent inside and outside the executive branch. The workgroup, with representatives from both parties and chambers, has provided immediate recommendations to quell the rioting, and still, the Governor refuses to engage directly with General Assembly leadership.  He has not even acknowledged our recommendations to mitigate the crisis.  Since the delivery of our letter to the Governor last week, there has already been another riot in Bowling Green.

“Better to send them to restore order in detention facilities than at churches on Easter Sunday.”

The Governor has finally taken a positive step many months too late in deploying Kentucky State Police troopers as a stopgap measure. Before someone gets hurt, assaulted, or killed, we implore the Governor to step out of damage control mode and communicate directly with his co-equal branches of government.  Better to send them to restore order in detention facilities than at churches on Easter Sunday.

Absent leadership, an issue becomes a crisis.  The executive branch has taken a shortsighted view of a volatile crisis and ignored the most vulnerable youth who need their support. Security aside, this administration has also ignored the mental health needs of both DJJ staff and the youth in their care as these riots, assaults and security failures have occurred. The Commonwealth needs a juvenile system that provides for our most troubled youth's well-being and the Governor is missing the opportunity to change the path these children will travel.  Rest assured, if the kids in DJJ detention are neglected long enough, they will eventually become residents of the Department of Corrections as adults.

Senator Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, represents the 3rd Senate District, is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the DJJ Workgroup.

Two Lives

The political world was rocked earlier this week when a draft majority opinion, the authenticity of which was subsequently confirmed by the Chief Justice, was leaked to the press.  For those of us in the legal community, any leak from SCOTUS would have been stunning, but a leak on this case, which may upend 49 years of court precedent set by Roe v Wade, was earth shattering.

The pro-life and pro-abortion camps responded swiftly, with either immense joy or apoplectic rage.  I am firmly in the pro-life camp.  I learned of the leaked opinion Monday night at the Alpha Pregnancy Care Center annual fundraising banquet, one of many crisis pregnancy centers across Kentucky.  Moments from the banquet’s conclusion I saw the news break and handed my phone to our keynote speaker; he promptly walked back on stage and in words broken by tears of joy, read the headline to the crowd which responded with a standing ovation.  That moment is one I won’t soon forget.

A room of several hundred people from various faiths stood in united in celebration of the news that a court-made doctrine resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of unborn children may finally be overturned.  Apart from the incalculable human tragedy it brought forth, Roe was poorly decided and wrongly established the “history and tradition” of abortion in our nation prior to 1973.  Even one of the greatest defenders of abortion rights, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, once described Roe as “breathtaking.”

In short, Justice Alito’s draft opinion argues the decision to permit, limit, or prohibit abortion is one that should be left to the elected representatives of the people, not the Courts.  Justice Alito is right.

Quick to criticize Kentucky’s Republican legislature about their position on abortion, the media has adopted popular references to “anti” abortion legislation and abandoning the “pro-life” label we know is the truth.  We vote to limit abortion, and some of us want it banned outright, because we believe there are two lives that must be considered. It is grotesque to perform horrific procedures on a human being that cannot speak for or defend itself. That precious life did not choose under what circumstances it was created, and it should not be murdered by another.  The post-abortive women I’ve spoken to also share their feelings of guilt, shame and emotional trauma they endure having made the decision to end their own child’s life.  Abortion kills one life, and permanently scars another.

Neither the degree of development, nor one’s dependence upon another, has a bearing on one’s right to live. Many argue Republicans only care for lives in the womb, but once they’re born, we lose interest; this theory is as false as it is lazy.  Kentucky Republicans have enhanced our child welfare, foster care and adoption systems, led the nation in restoring dignity for expectant mothers in prison, prioritized mothers in substance use treatment centers, and improved mental health supports and made time for children to start the day with a healthy breakfast in schools,

We can and should do more.  Women and families facing crisis pregnancies, particularly those with low income, need more help, including prenatal and postnatal care.  Adoption should be exceedingly cheap and simple. Biological fathers should also be held more accountable. Kentucky has nearly 9,000 children in foster care today that need loving, permanent homes. Beyond government, each of us should show love and grace to women facing unplanned pregnancies, and those who have already made that life-altering decision. Many women seeking abortions are doing so because they fear the judgment or abuse from their loved ones, school, community, and sadly, even their church.

While we work to make life easier for expecting moms and dads with funding, education and job opportunities, we should always protect the precious lives who cannot speak for themselves.  Protecting those lives is challenging, and for some mothers, carrying the child may be emotionally and physically challenging.  That demands more from us as neighbors, loved ones, and as government leaders, to lighten the burden an unplanned pregnancy creates.  We should never resort to killing an innocent life to do so.  

2021 Extraordinary Session Wrap-Up

The Kentucky General Assembly utilized its authority to shape the state’s response to the pandemic during a three-day extraordinary, or “special,” session ending just before midnight on Thursday, September 9. Upon the Governor’s call for a session, we passed bills in both the House and Senate dealing with many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic ranging from education to public health to boards and commissions. While no action taken during the pandemic will enjoy universal support, republican supermajorities took a balanced approach by focusing on public health, individual liberties, and localized control.

Recently, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that a lower court incorrectly blocked laws passed during the 2021 Regular Session that sought to reasonably limit emergency executive authority.  With that, the legislature used this special session to extend some emergency executive actions and eliminate others. New COVID-19 mitigation strategies were also considered to provide relief to institutions strained by the pandemic, including schools, hospitals, businesses, and nursing homes.

Senate Joint Resolution 1 extended specific executive orders, regulations, and other actions. Of particular note is that we did not implement or permit the Governor to issue a statewide mask mandate. For the purposes of federal funding and other regulations that we viewed as essential, we allowed the state of emergency to remain in effect until January 15, 2022. Also, for the purpose of transparency, we are requiring the Governor and state agencies to put all action taken and permitted under this resolution to be posted in a consolidated format on the Secretary of State’s website.

Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) reaffirmed that there would be no statewide mask mandate in schools but instead left that decision to the local school boards. The goals of SB 1 are to prioritize in-person learning, stabilizing school funding, assist with staff shortages, and create conditions for state and local health departments to support local school districts with their COVID-19 mitigation plans based on their own local data and needs.

Under this legislation, the Kentucky Department of Public Health (DPH) would develop a “test-to-stay” model for school districts to minimize quarantining for non-symptomatic students and staff, encouraging students to be in the classroom as much as possible. Additional language in SB 1 provides that the DPH shall assist local school districts in implementing their board-approved COVID-19 plans, whether it concerns a test-to-stay method, masking guidelines, contact tracing, or quarantining.

In consultation with the Governors’ office and the Kentucky Department of Education, we allowed 20 days of remote instruction. Not to be mistaken as Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) days, these remote learning days are only permissible for a classroom or school, not an entire district. The intent is to allow room for a targeted response in the event of virus exposure.  In light of critical staffing shortages, SB 1 will make it easier for retired teachers to return to the classroom, in some cases as soon as 30 days after retiring. It also provides temporary revisions for the hiring of substitute teachers, background checks, and school schedules.

Senate Bill 2 concerns one of the most heartbreaking parts of the pandemic, establishing safety protocols for loved ones to visit family members in long-term care facilities. This bill defines criteria for a family or friend to be designated as an essential, compassionate caregiver. SB 2 also encourages vaccinations, COVID-19 testing, and greater access to monoclonal antibody treatments, such as Regeneron. 

A provision of SB 2 provides assistance for health care providers, jails, prisons, homeless shelters, and local health departments in acquiring COVID-19 tests. Another provision will allow paramedics to work in hospitals to help relieve a provider shortage.

Senate Bill 3  will redirect more than $69 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health & Family Services. The money was left over from the repayment of a federal loan to Kentucky’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund that was taken out to cover a surge of pandemic-related unemployment claims.

The money will help health care providers, schools, and others implement provisions of SB 1 and SB 2. These include purchasing COVID-19 tests, establishing regional monoclonal antibody treatment centers, and test-to-stay programs in schools.

Senate Bill 5, wholly unrelated to the pandemic, was an economic development incentive bill requested by the Governor and the Economic Development cabinet to only apply to projects over $2 billion. It will utilize existing programs, however, these incentives will be paid out over time to ensure any project meets the required job and wage targets. Some incentives will be in the form of forgivable loans.

Kentucky is in the running for at least one mega project eyeing Hardin County. Language within SB 5 can be compared to state economic development incentives the General Assembly passed in the late ‘80s, which brought Toyota’s first American assembly plant to Georgetown. It is now the world’s largest Toyota manufacturing facility where the Lexus ES350, Avalon, Camry and some hybrid counterparts are assembled.

SB 3 and SB 5 were signed by the Governor, and vetoes of SB 1 and SB 2 were swiftly overridden. Each bill contained an emergency clause, meaning they became law immediately upon the Governor’s signature or upon the veto override.

The legislative process is more challenging and sometimes more cumbersome by design.  We are obligated to debate and question, ensuring that the voices of every corner of Kentucky are being heard and given consideration rather than being summarily dismissed by a governor whose actions have been consistently inequitable and unconstitutional.  We strive to stabilize the system, and this new legislation is an attempt to do so during these unprecedented times. The General Assembly still faces serious budget and policy decisions in the upcoming 2022 Regular Session. Still, we will remain dedicated to finding the best legislative course of action for citizens across the Commonwealth as we continue to navigate the pandemic. 

Thank you for your questions and concerns. I hope you will remain engaged with legislative happenings for the remainder of the interim by visiting www.Legislature.ky.gov or www.KET.org/legislature. It is an honor to serve you in Frankfort.