During the 13 years I was a social worker for three New York State's juvenile prisons, then called "Training Schools," and later called "Residential Treatment Centers," and now referred to as "Detention Centers", I documented thousands of pages of day-to-day records of abuse. I started at the now defunct Hudson School for Girls in July, 1965, then at the now-defunct Wynantskill Center for Girls, and last, at the Brookwood Center for Boys in Claverack, New York, now transformed into the largest maximum security center for boys who are considered the most dangerous teens in the state.
All three of these intended-treatment centers were inept at best, but mostly neglectful and corrupt, and did much more harm than good. Even today, these juvenile "prisons" as I call them, are closed off to the public, hiding their extreme failures to help the youngsters they are so highly-paid to rehabilitate, and hiding serious abuses that would appall and infuriate most decent citizens, particularly the parents and families of these teenage victims of New York's failed juvenile justice system.
Here is a report from my first day back at the Hudson School for Girls shortly after the state closed the Wynantskill School for Girls after the abuse and neglect was uncovered, with help from me and one other staff member.
I had begun my social work career at the Hudson School in 1965, transferred to the Wynantskill School in 1968 after learning that the Hudson School had deteriorated so badly it was close to experiencing a riot. Unfortunately, I learned too late that the Wynantskill School was also in shambles and even closer to a riot, which occurred a few days after I got there. After three years at Wynantskill, I returned to the Hudson School with grave misgivings, but no choice in the matter, unless I left the state system, which I had no intention of doing.
On August 12, 1971, shortly after my return to Hudson School, I recorded this report:
(Note: Only first names and last names initials are used to protect confidentiality of the residents) Names of the staffers are the full names, and in Caps.)
* * * * * *
Thursday, August 12, 1971
I attended a group meeting in Cottage # 1 today at `12:30. I had asked GEORGE DOLECAL the cottage supervisor ( who maintained he had a degree in psychology, which was never proven) if I could observe his cottage meeting, to fulfill my commitment to observe one meeting before Friday, Aug. 13. GEORGE was amenable.
MRS. MARY HERRING, the Cottage #1 housemother attended, and another staff, a white woman wearing glasses, stayed until 2:00P.M. I didn't catch her name.
Two girls I knew from Wynantskill (they had been transferred after the closing) were part of the group. Evelyn G. And Arnita N., both from Mary Kozoriz's Cottage 6 at Wynantskill. There were seven other girls€”Gladys, Debbie, Terry, Carmen, Debbie N., JoAnn and Linda, none of whom I had ever seen before.
JoAnn and Terry were angry when they came in. Terry held her stomach and said she didn't feel well. JoAnn sat with eyes closed, and for most of the meeting, appeared to be trying to sleep, eyes closed tightly, a jacket serving as a blanket, and in a sleeping position. She was obviously quite angry and answered only when spoken to, and then in short, angry, clipped relies€“usually heavy with sarcasm.
A Negro girl named Debbie began the meeting. She was in an angry mood, every other word out of her mouth was obscene: fucking, you assholes, shit, fuck, etc. Arnita joined in occasionally. then Evelyn G. At first the subjects were trivial. Debbie complained that girls in the cottage would say to each other, "You're full of bullshit," and such other unfriendly statements, but would not explain why they said it. She brought up that Carmen wasn't functioning properly in the kitchen. Both girls were dressed in cook's uniforms, gold with white headbands. It was brought out that some of the cooks took the largest helping of food for themselves, particularly meat and fruit. The group agreed that one day some girls had meat heaped high on their plates while JoAnn had no meat at all. GEORGE DOLECAL asked JoAnn, who was looking very angry, why she hadn't said anything about it. She snapped without looking at him€“something to the effect that “well, you're hearing about it now. His retort, including the word "fuck" was something like "well, what the fuck good is it now “only made her look angrier and the subject was dropped.
Finally, Debbie and Arnita & Evelyn began to attack Debbie N. For not talking in the meeting. At one point, one of the girls asked her "Where's your mind at?" (To indicate that Debbie seemed disinterested in the meeting.) Debbie's answer was:
"In my head, where did you think it was?"
GEORGE DOLECAL yelled, "Up your ass. Why don't you stand up and then maybe you can think."
Debbie N. gave him a dirty look and turned away.
Evelyn G. Began to attack JoAnn for sleeping and Debbie N. For not talking. GEORGE DOLECAL seemed to become increasingly more annoyed at Debbie N. and at one point he told her if she didn't talk, she was going to bed at seven (7:00) that night. She told him she wasn't talking and she wasn't going to bed at seven either. They argued back and forth briefly.
Finally GEORGE told the group they were a bunch of bastards, referring to the "fucking meeting." Evelyn G. Became very upset at GEORGE DOLECAL, insisting that she was not a bastard. Finally she began crying. GEORGE DOLECAL told her that she shouldn't be mad at him, but at Debbie N. He said he would put the whole fucking bunch to bed at seven if the meeting didn't improve. Evelyn G. renewed her attack on Debbie N., using profanity, demanding that Debbie talk. Debbie refused. GEORGE DOLECAL said that he would drag her ass up the fucking stairs and throw her into bed if she didn't start talking. She still didn't talk. Before that, GEORGE DOLECAL told the group that he felt that Debbie N., JoAnn, and Linda should be transferred out of the cottage because they weren't doing anything in the meetings. The group members discussed their feelings, but there was a lot of tension and no real agreement within the group as to which girls deserved another chance and which should be transferred. Most felt that Linda deserved more of a chance, as she was relatively new, but that the other two needed to be transferred. All three girls, JoAnn, Debbie N. And Linda looked disgusted by the whole conversation and indicated that they didn't particularly care one way or the other.
Finally, the Debbie who was a cook, began sobbing, apparently with frustration and disgust as the whole tone of the meeting. Arnita & Evelyn began crying, too. Debbie (the cook) finally sobbed, "I want to go home to my mother." Later, Arnita said she had a terrible headache. Another girl said she had a headache, too.
MRS. HERRING said nothing throughout the entire meeting except once, when Debbie N. Looked at her and smiled sarcastically, MRS. HERRING then said, "You're stupid."
The other staff member said nothing at all and finally left at 2:00 PM. A few minutes after she left, GEORGE DOLECAL told the group they could sit there all night; he was going to have some coffee. He and MRS. HERRING left the meeting, inviting me to go with them, but I remained with the girls for about ten more minutes. The tension seemed to break a bit after GEORGE DOLECAL and MRS. HERRING left. The girls stopped picking on the scapegoats and two or three laughed.
During the meeting, at the height of their anger toward Debbie N., Debbie the cook had said she wanted to punch Debbie N. In the mouth. She asked GEORGE DOLECAL if she could do it. He said she could do whatever she wanted, but he didn't think it would solve anything. Later, Evelyn asked the same kind of question and his answer was generally the same, except to add that she would have to face the consequences.
Before George Dolecal left the meeting, girls were called JoAnn "The Sleeping Beauty," and Debbie N. "Queen Shit."
I thanked the girls for allowing me to observe and told them I hoped they could be more helpful to each other. They were very polite and friendly to me.
After I left, GEORGE DOLECAL returned to the meeting, but it broke up a few minutes later. There appeared to be a lot of tension and unrest in the cottage.
GEORGE JENSEN ( my then - supervisor) attended my community meeting in Cottage C. He entered as girls were saying that he had confused them by his remarks and that they preferred the way I operated the meeting. I asked the girls to tell GEORGE, which they did, and he explained to them his intended purpose€“getting them to look at their reactions & responses. Meeting proceeded fairly well. Girls talked about Elizabeth S. and it appeared to help her handle angry feelings a little better. She was able to verbalize her tendency to displace anger (in this case toward Debbie C) onto others.
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Note: George Dolecal continued to harass the girls and later became assistant superintendent at the Hudson School. The place deteriorated rapidly during the next three years; there were hundreds of runways and serious incidents, including a serious riot. Eventually my testimony before the Senate Select Crime Committee on February 13, 1975, led to the closing of the Hudson School. A few months later, in January, 1976, I transferred to the Brookwood School for Boys. A few months after that, George Dolecal was transferred to Brookwood also. His behavior there was completely opposite of his corrupt behavior at Hudson School. He was clearly frightened of the boys, stayed out of their way, and just hung around the secretaries, and often left the building to visit a friend. After a couple of years, he was promoted to superintendent of a Division for Youth camp; eventually, five or six female staff members at the camp sued George Dolecal for sexual molestation and harassment. I believe he was finally fired. The defendants won their case against him; it costs New York State taxpayers over $100,000 to settle the lawsuit against George Dolecal.
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