OPEA

A recently filed injunction by the U.S. Justice Department regarding the lack of sufficient control at the L.E. Rader Juvenile Center in Sand Springs confirms longtime assertions by the Oklahoma Public Employees Association that consistent under funding and understaffing of the center by the legislature results in tragedy for all concerned.

“Today’s action by the Justice Department echoes what our members on the ground at this facility have been saying for a very long time,” said OPEA executive director Sterling Zearley. “Following state budget cuts in 2002, the Office of Juvenile Affairs, and, specifically, this facility, has been forced to make do with insufficient resources and a low paid, overworked staff.”

As filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the injunction details a consistent trend of unsafe behavior at the center.

“OPEA called for a legislative interim study in 2005 to address the funding and staffing issues at the Rader Center,” Zearley said. “Had its recommendations been followed, which included the segregation of the older juvenile offenders from those just entering the system, the facility would not be facing the barrage of challenges it is facing today.”

Research performed by OPEA shows a pattern of decline in both funding and staffing that can be traced back to the door of the Oklahoma legislature.

“In 1992, the Rader Center had staff/client ratio of almost three staff per client,” Zearley said. “By 2004, there were almost more clients than staff.”

According to Zearley, low starting salaries for workers result in poor recruitment and retention of staff which, in turn, can result in a very unstable atmosphere in any state facility.

“Oklahoma loses almost $80 million per year in state employee turnover,” he said. “It is very difficult to find and keep a quality workforce when the starting salary at Rader is around $20,000.”

OPEA plans a series of articles regarding the Rader situation.

“OPEA has a very strong, active membership at this facility that has devoted their lives to the rehabilitation of our youthful offenders in hopes that they go no further in the correctional system,” he said. “This association will continue to support our members in their efforts to offer guidance and services to Oklahoma’s youthful offenders by raising issues that will hopefully give legislators the ammunition they need to correct the problems.”

Zearley concludes with a direct call to the legislature for pay raises and better funding of the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

“Until we pay a decent wage to these guardians of our youth and fully fund the needs of this agency, the problems, which are so rampant that they have attracted the attention of the federal government, will not go away,” he said.

Oklahoma must reply to the injunction application by September 17. A hearing on the motion has been set for October 5.