State senators ask Attorney General to look into serious concerns at SC's DJJ

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — SC Governor Henry McMaster is reacting to a scathing audit that points to serious problems with South Carolina's Department of Juvenile Justice.

The governor came out in defense of his beleaguered head of Juvenile Justice, saying, "I have confidence in Director Pough."

McMaster, however, didn’t shy away from the problems, adding “We are trying to correct those deficiencies.".

Gov. McMaster also applauded a thorough effort by the legislative audit council (LAC) in its reporting.

In its report, presented to lawmakers on Wednesday, auditors noted severe staffing shortages leading to safety issues.

LAC’s Marcia Lindsey told a senate panel, “Imagine going to work with one other security officer and you have 20 kids that could at any time do or say anything.”

Senators said they were shocked by the audit which outlined allegations of sexual assault and abuse coverups, falsifying records, misuse of funds.

They now want the state's attorney general to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing.

"I was a solicitor here for 12 years. I've never....our juvenile facilities were pretty secure. Now there were problems, but not like this," says SC Sen. Dick Hartpoolian (D- Richland and Lexington counties).

DJJ Director Freddie Pough’s responded to the audit saying, “There was a great deal of context left out of the reporting.”

Justice experts say this audit is an echo of past probes into the department.

“This audit is in a long line that find problems in juvenile jails,” says USC Law Professor Josh Gupta-Kagan.

Problems Gupta-Kagan says will not go away until we reform juvenile justice and stop locking up kids for minor offenses.

“Jail is not a good place for kids to be and there is a lot of research showing that incarcerating children for relatively minor offenses actually undermines the rehabilitation goals of the system and undermines public safety,” says Gupta-Kagan.