Meurer says she wanted them to know what detention is like before recommending it for 14-year-old girl.

By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, August 30, 2008

A group of advocates for children and a 14-year-old defendant's mother were ordered into Travis County juvenile court holding cells this week after state District Judge Jeanne Meurer grew frustrated with them during a hearing.

Meurer said she told the six people to spend 20 minutes in the cells after they recommended that the girl, who is accused of punching her mother, be held in detention while awaiting trial.

"I told them that before you make these things (a recommendation to the court on whether detention is warranted), you go spend time in a jail cell," Meurer said during an interview in her office.

The longtime juvenile court judge, who is not seeking re-election this year, is known as a passionate advocate for children who does not tolerate excuses. She said she wanted the group to get a taste of what it's like to be in detention, which she believes takes an emotional toll on youths and, at $166 per day, is costly. She called the jailing a "learning opportunity" akin to a "site visit" and said that if the people had objected, they would not have been forced into the cells.

But that is not how two state Child Protective Services employees who were jailed saw it, according to a CPS spokesman.

"The judge is the final arbiter of our cases, and when the judge tells you to do something, you do it," Chris Van Deusen said. "It was not a voluntary thing."

Meurer declined to give the names of those jailed. Van Deusen said the two CPS employees were caseworker Rushmi Karim and supervisor Wendy Sonnenberg. The state Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, does not plan to pursue any complaints about the incident, but Karim and Sonnenberg may do so on their own, Van Deusen said.

"I don't know what they learned sitting in a cell for a few minutes," he said. "This is not something that we want to see happen again."

In addition to the CPS workers and the girl's mother, Meurer said the others put in the holding cells were a worker for the reintegration project of the Casey Family Foundation, a volunteer mentor to the girl and a volunteer with Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Assistant Travis County District Attorney LaRu Woody, chief of the family justice division, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.

Meurer said the teenage defendant spent a year in foster care before being returned to live with her mother last month. On Monday, the girl punched her mother after her mother kicked the family dog, Meurer said. The mother called police, and the girl was arrested and spent Monday night at the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center in South Austin.

At the Tuesday hearing at Gardner Betts, Meurer, as is her custom, asked those present to recommend whether the teen should remain detained. Some said the girl needed a psychiatric evaluation, was having a hard time getting one through a state program and should be detained until she could get one, Meurer said. Later, Meurer said, they explained that they wanted her detained because the mother did not want her at home.

"I was not happy with that," she said. "Detention is not a parenting tool; it's not a mental health tool."

Van Deusen said the recommendation was unclear because the girl's mother was not sure whether she would take her back into her home. "It's clearly better for this child in this situation to be at home," he said.

Meurer said those jailed were placed two people per cell in three holding cells. Their belongings were not taken, and the doors were not locked, she said.

When the six people got out, the group was unanimous: The girl should be allowed to live at home until the trial. Van Deusen said the shift occurred because the mother changed her mind.

"They came back in, and I discussed that this was not to punish," Meurer said, "this was not to do anything but a site visit.

"These were professional people that I care about, and I am very sorry they would take it in any way but a positive experience."

skreytak@statesman.com; 912-2946

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/30/0830meurer.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor