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Boy attacked at youth center gets $140,000 from the state
MARY HARGROVE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

The state has paid $140,000 to a boy attacked by other youths while in state custody at the now-closed Central Arkansas Observation and Assessment Center in North Little Rock.
The state Department of Human Services did not admit to any liability or wrongdoing, according to the agreement, which prohibits the boy from making reference to "guilty, liability or wrongdoing of the state."
In the $140,000 settlement, $56,000 was designated for attorneys' fees. Although "attorneys" was stated as plural in the Pulaski County Probate Court settlement order, Paul James of Little Rock is the only lawyer named on the settlement check.
Of the remaining money, $1,790.60 was paid to a counselor who worked with the boy; $20,000 was paid immediately to the boy; and $62,290.40 was deposited in a guardianship investment account. The latter money may be removed from the account only with approval of the court.
The attack was reported in a six-part series by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in June 1998. The series outlined systematic physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children declared delinquent and placed in the custody of the state.
The observation and assessment center is where children were sent to be evaluated for placement within state delinquency programs. The 16-year-old boy, called Chris in the series to protect his identity, was declared delinquent for stealing two packs of cigarettes and violating his probation by smoking marijuana.
Chris had been at the center 57 days when he was taken from his cell on April 1, 1998, and placed in another cell with four black teen-agers, one known for violent behavior and his dislike of whites.
The boy said the Youth Services Division worker for his unit was angry with him because he and his cellmate, both white, had called her a "bitch" and a "whore." He said she told him that she was going to teach him not to mess with a black woman.
Chris said he was taunted by the boys who laughed and described sexual acts they were going to do to him. Chris was sitting on the floor. He was spit on and hit. Then one of the boys wrapped a sheet around Chris' neck, pulled him up to his knees and allegedly sexually assaulted him. He eventually was removed, and his roommate was placed in the cell and also hit and spit upon, according to reports.
Three of the four boys admitted to a state Youth Services Division investigator that they had tormented Chris. The fourth, the one involved in the alleged sexual assault, denied doing anything to Chris.
A Youth Services Division report determined that the youth services worker endangered the safety and welfare of Chris and his roommate "by placing them in [cell] B-1 when they knew it would result in violence toward the boys."
The Arkansas State Police concluded that "there was credible evidence of child maltreatment" by the youth services worker and the youth involved in the alleged sexual assault.
Four days after Chris' story was published, Gov. Mike Huckabee announced that he would close the observation and assessment center within 60 days.
Chris' mother later filed a claim for damages against the Human Services Department and was preparing to file a lawsuit when the settlement check was issued Dec. 21. Details of the agreement were obtained by the Democrat-Gazette from the department via the state Freedom of Information Act.
"We agreed to settle because we didn't want this to drag on for another three years," the boy's mother said. "He bought a used pickup truck with some of the money and is studying to take his driver's test."
Chris is now 17 and lives with a married sister in Jonesboro. He has earned a General Educational Development degree and is applying for school next fall at Arkansas State University at Jonesboro.

This article was published on Wednesday, February 17, 1999

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