‘Hogtying’ allegation prompts order to remove juveniles from Elko facility

Concerns that juveniles are being hogtied at the Nevada Youth Training Center in Elko have prompted a Family Court judge to order the removal of all Clark County offenders from the facility.

Susan Roske, who oversees the juvenile division of the Clark County public defender’s office, said she attended a hearing Wednesday at which Judge William Voy issued the order.

Roske said Voy called the hearing after receiving reports about a method of police restraint, called “hobbling,” that is being used at the Elko facility.

“Some people describe it as hogtying,” the attorney said.

Voy has declined to comment on the issue.

Jennifer Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Nevada attorney general’s office, confirmed the judge’s order Thursday in an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“Judge Voy issued an oral order yesterday in court requiring Clark County youth in the Nevada Youth Training Center be returned to Clark County Juvenile Detention facility,” Lopez wrote Thursday. “At this time we have not received the written court order.”

Roske said Wednesday’s hearing involved concerns that the hobbling technique is being used at both the Elko facility and at the Caliente Youth Center, but Voy had “documented reports from the Elko facility that substantiated the complaints by some of the youth.”

She said the method involves using handcuffs and ankle shackles, then connecting the hands and feet together.

“Ostensibly it’s to gain control of an out-of-control youth, but it appears that it may have been used punitively,” Roske said.

One juvenile inmate who was interviewed Sunday about the Elko facility while at the Clark County Juvenile Justice Services Detention Center, described the restraint technique as “a youth’s feet being ankle chained and their hands being placed in waist chains then handcuffs are used to connect their wrists to the ankle chains.” A copy of the interview conducted by staff at the Clark County facility was obtained by the Review-Journal.

A Dec. 9, 2013, interview with a youth at Clark County’s Red Rock Academy for juvenile offenders indicated that when he was at the Elko facility, “Staff hit him.” He said in the interview that he had been “hobbled” and “the staff had him lay on the floor and staff cuffed his hand to his leg behind his back.” He reported an Elko staff member kneed him in the back repeatedly while he was restrained.

A youth interviewed on Dec. 18, 2013, reported that when he was at the Caliente Youth Center, “he was hogtied 14 times in one day.”

At least in one case, a staff member “decided to place the youth in a hobble restraint to prevent the youth from continuing to not follow instructions,” according to an incident report filed by involved employees.

According to an Aug. 5, 2013, incident report from Elko staff members, “A youth was instructed to lay in the prone position and did so without incident.” Staff “entered the youth’s room and placed youth in a belly chain, ankle restraint and then continued by placing the handcuffs on the youth in order to connect the leg irons and belly chains for the hobbles restraint.” Staff “moved the youth to the back of the room. We then exited the room.”

Roske said Voy’s order affects 12 boys at the Elko facility, including four who were scheduled to be released next week. She said Voy wants the boys returned to Clark County today.

Roske said the hearing in Voy’s courtroom involved three offenders, including two 18-year-old men she represents.

She said one of her clients was housed in Elko and the other in Caliente, and both claim the hobbling technique was used on them last year.

The third offender was housed at the Elko facility.

All three are now out of custody, Roske said.

According to the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services website, the Nevada Youth Training Center is a 160-bed, staff-secure facility for male youth, and the Caliente Youth Center is a 140-bed, staff-secure facility for both male and female youth.

Both facilities serve offenders ages 12 to 18.

Voy, a Family Court judge since 1998, has been presiding over juvenile delinquency cases in Clark County for about a decade. He was re-elected to another six-year term earlier this year when he ran unopposed.

A Review-Journal reporter who requested an interview with Voy on Thursday was referred by his assistant to Chief Deputy District Attorney Brigid Duffy, who works in the juvenile division, and court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price.

In response to a question about Voy’s ruling, Duffy told the reporter, “If he’s done such a thing, then he should be able to verify that for you.”

The attorney said she could not comment on specific orders.

“At this point I see it as being a confidential matter,” she said.

Price said neither she nor Voy could comment on the matter because it involves juveniles and therefore is confidential.

The Justice Department investigated the Nevada Youth Training Center in 2002 after employees were accused of violating the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.

Employees were accused of smashing the heads of juveniles against doors and throwing them to the floor when they did not follow directions. A teacher also was accused of kicking a boy.

The Review-Journal reported in 2004 that five employees had been fired and that others had been disciplined for their treatment of juveniles at the facility. A formal settlement was reached with the Justice Department that year.

In 2008, the Associated Press reported that four years of Justice Department oversight had ended with a finding that Nevada had resolved the agency’s concerns about abuse at the Elko facility.

Review-Journal writer Yesenia Amaro contributed to this report. Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.