GA Youth Prison Facility Turns up Tobacco Offenses

By RHONDA COOK

A black market for cigarettes thrived inside the long-term juvenile detention center in Augusta but investigators found no criminal conduct, according to the now-closed state probe. On page after page, investigators recounted interviews with teenage boys, young adult males and employees of the Augusta Youth Development Center in support of allegations that some staffers at the 300-bed institution had been providing the young criminals with cigarettes and lighters. Sometimes, the tobacco was sold for as much as $20 a pack, according to the records.

But Martinez, whose pending resignation was accepted by Gov. Sonny Perdue in August, said the sale of cigarettes was just a symptom of how dysfunctional the Augusta YDC had become.

"Cigarettes is not a minor issue," he said Tuesday. "It's contraband and it creates dangerous conditions. What we found was kids were covering for staff and staff [members] were covering for kids."

According to hundreds of pages of files and records, the allegations began with three YDC residents -- one there for murder since 2001, one serving time for theft and the third for destruction of government property and theft. The focus of their charges were three former officers, who were among the four employees fired in the spring.

After interviewing 45 YDC employees and about 120 YDC residents, investigators found a place where favors were granted and where a pack of Newport 1000s or Kools went for $20 and a single cigarette cost $1. Cigarettes also were rewards for those who would give staff information on other boys, according to the files.

One of the three residents at the center of the investigation reportedly would sell cigarettes to others in his dorm and then tell the officer about the transaction. The officer allegedly would seize the just-sold cigarettes and return them to the young man so he could sell the tobacco again.

"Many residents' allegations regarding cigarettes . . . appear to have been confirmed by the investigation," the report said. "The conduct of the YDC employees certainly deserves considerable scrutiny in light of the policies and procedures of the facility and of the DJJ. . . .

While investigators found dozens of YDC residents who reported buying cigarettes or, like some staffers, at least witnessing sales or hearing rumors of them, many others said they saw nothing, heard nothing and knew nothing.

"The kids' testimony was not good [enough] to bring about any type of criminal investigation," Martinez said. "I think that was the key. Before I left being commissioner, that was the conclusion: Who is going to believe a kid?"