COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The state of Ohio plans to pour money and resources into its juvenile detention system after settling a lawsuit alleging serious violations.
The state is promising $30 million in additional annual spending and the hiring of more than 100 extra guards. It also will hire additional psychologists, nurses, social workers and teachers, improve its off-hours programs for children and revamp its program for sex offenders.
A report released late last year found Ohio's youth prisons are overcrowded and understaffed and fail to educate children behind bars or keep them safe. It also found cases of excessive use of force.
The settlement ends legal challenges that began in 2004 with allegations of excessive force being used against girls at the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility.
Washington Post Juvenile 'Justice' systems are 'Frankenstein mills' or as one Juvenile Judge puts it, "We are creating our own homegrown terrorists".