Juvenile offenders denied legal aid, advocates say

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s juvenile prison system is denying young offenders the legal aid they’ve been granted in court, a Kentucky-based advocacy group has told a federal judge.

The Children’s Law Center of Kentucky has asked U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley to find the Ohio Department of Youth Services in violation of a court order that requires lawyers be provided to incarcerated youth who want to complain about prison conditions.

The center bases its case on the plights of 31 juvenile offenders who they say received poor treatment while in custody and weren’t allowed to consult an attorney.

Prison guards are alleged to have broken the arm of one boy who then received such insufficient medical care in prison that his arm had to be broken again at a hospital to set it properly, according to court documents reviewed by The Columbus Dispatch.

Documents also describe another boy who lost three teeth when a guard left his post unattended and inmates attacked the youngster.

The Children’s Law Center, which provides free legal advice to children, sued the state in 2004 claiming juveniles had not been allowed to speak to an attorney about prison conditions.

The suit was settled in April after the state hired an attorney assigned to handling inmate complaints. But that lawyer, Sharon Hicks, has been overburdened with an average of 200 juvenile complainants a month, said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Stephen L. Pevar.

Pevar said that Hicks has promised in some cases to prepare lawsuits for the inmates, but the complaint alleges she doesn’t follow through.

Hicks acknowledged the heavy workload. The number of complaints filed by youth has steadily risen Hicks was hired in 2005, she said.

She said she meets with youths at each of the eight juvenile prisons about once a month.

Marbley has not set a hearing date on the complaint.

The Youth Services Department and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann’s office declined to comment.

Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland, said “the governor is interested in pursuing meaningful improvements at the Ohio Department of Youth Services.”