Detention center is violent, dad says

An official said George Junior likely has less violence than an average high school.
& lt;a href=mailto:gwin@vindy.com & gt;By HAROLD GWIN & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- A West Virginia father says George Junior Republic, a juvenile detention and education center near Grove City, is a violent place.
It's supposed to be about rehabilitating young people who get into trouble or are having problems, but some of the boys sent there are being assaulted by other residents, said Brian Murphy Sr. of Moundsville.
That's what happened to his son, Brian Jr., who was sent to George Junior by a West Virginia court at age 17 in early August 2003 for drug and alcohol treatment and a destruction-of-public-property charge.
Attacked
Murphy said his son was attacked in his room by three other residents of the same cottage on Aug. 24, resulting in his son's suffering a broken nose.
He's had two surgeries to fix it so far and is probably facing a third, Murphy said.
The three boys involved in the assault, all 17 at the time, appeared in Mercer County Juvenile Court Thursday and each pleaded guilty to a charge of simple assault. Their cases were sent back to their home communities (one is from Pittsburgh and two are from Philadelphia) for adjudication, said Judge Thomas Dobson.
The defendants said the attack was related to their belief that the victim had contraband cigarettes in his possession and two of the defendants wanted some.
The elder Murphy said he agreed to the plea arrangement, which resulted in charges of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy and harassment being dropped against the three assailants, to clear the way for his planned civil lawsuit against the institution and at least one of the defendants.
After the attack on his son, Murphy learned of at least three other attacks against other boys on campus in the same general time period, he said. At least two of those victims were also from West Virginia, he said.
The assailants were different in each case, he said.
Counselor's death
Murphy said he began trying to raise the alarm about violence on the ungated campus by writing to legislators and juvenile and other officials before the Nov. 10 on-campus attack on a night security counselor, Wayne Urey Jr., 43, of Mercer. That attack resulted in the counselor's death by strangulation.
Two boys from the Pittsburgh area, Anthony Machicote and Jeremy Melvin, are facing adult charges of criminal homicide, robbery, assault, escape, theft and conspiracy in Urey's death.
Authorities said the boys planned to escape and attacked Urey to steal his truck as part of their plan.
Two of Murphy's letters went to U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller and Congressman Alan Mollohan, both of West Virginia. In letters of reply, both indicated they had no jurisdiction but would forward his letter to the appropriate court or state agency, or offered a suggestion of whom to contact.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources referred his letter to its Moundsville office to be investigated.
Murphy said he met with the department's representatives in a 90-minute session but hasn't received any response yet.
His contention
Murphy contends that George Junior doesn't have security to handle maximum- or even medium-risk campus residents.
People think of George Junior as a wonderful place, but it has violent people there, he said.
"Kids get in fights," Rick Losasso, George Junior's chief executive officer, said in response.
Privacy regulations prevent him from speaking about any case in specifics, Losasso said, but he noted that sometimes there are conflicts between boys from urban areas and those from rural communities.
Still, the George Junior campus probably has less violence than an average high-school campus, he contended.
Most of the fights are brief and result in no serious injury, he said.
Any resident responsible for an attack faces immediate disciplinary action, ranging from being placed in a higher security special needs unit to being removed from the campus.
They could also face criminal charges, he said.
Those who have trouble functioning in a normal environment can also be assigned to a special-needs unit, he said, adding that about 100 of George Junior's 480 residents are in those units.
Boys from a wide variety of backgrounds and criminal offenses are sent to George Junior if the court and the juvenile agencies in their home communities feel it is an appropriate setting for them.
There is no effort to segregate the juveniles on the basis of crimes committed, he said.
Ungated
It's an ungated residential center without bars, fences or jail cells.
The institution can refuse to accept a juvenile and strives to accept those it feels it can help, Losasso said.
The average stay is nine months, although special needs juveniles generally stay about a year, he said.
Murphy was critical of the way George Junior officials handled the attack on his son, noting that it was he who insisted on bringing Pennsylvania State Police on campus to investigate the assault and file charges.
He's looking for evidence of other resident-on-resident assaults on the campus and asked that anyone with such information contact him at madmurph2004@aol.com.
Although Losasso said he couldn't discuss the specifics of the Murphy case, he said the attack was investigated by state juvenile welfare and other agencies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Neither state apparently believes that juveniles are at undue risk at George Junior, he said, and noted that neither has stopped sending young people to the institution.