New South Carolina juvenile justice chief pushes reforms

By MICHELLE LIU
Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Turning around South Carolina’s chronically dangerous juvenile prisons is now the job of a prosecutor who sent some of those children to jail. Juvenile Justice Director Eden Hendrick tells The Associated Press she’s very hopeful that reforms are actually getting some traction. She leads an agency where federal officials say staffers have hogtied, choked, slapped and bitten children. At least she’ll have more money: $20 million for a separate treatment facility where severely mentally ill juveniles can get proper care, $8 million for security upgrades, $1.6 million for pay raises and $1.5 million to upgrade the system for virtual prison visits.