"Shocking Orgy" At Upstate Teen Prison

An investigation is currently being performed at Goshen Secure Center, a facility that houses convicted criminals too young to be immediately placed in state prisons, over a "social gathering" that allegedly ended in multiple sexual acts between minors. On December 12th, 2009, the residential center allowed some convicted killers and gang bangers to choose "the girls they wanted to have attend" a little party they were throwing. They chose a 15-year-old and a "suspected prostitute," both of whom proceeded to give the teens lap dances and possibly oral sex. Security officer Antonio Collado told the Post, "There was a girl getting her pants pulled down and getting ready to be penetrated from the rear."

Collado says this happened after the girl had already performed oral sex on the resident, and the gathering was quickly broken up after they figured out what was going on. Collado actually drove the two women to the dance at the request of the residents, a four-hour trip from their "street corner" in Albany to the residential center, and background checks identified one as a "suspected prostitute" who had received $100 in the mail from one of the residents. It is unclear why the residential center went out of their way to bring the girls to the dance.

The Office of Children and Family Services supports holding socials "as part of our way of incentivizing good behavior," according to Commissioner Gladys Carrion, but they, State Inspector General Joseph Fisch and the Department of Correctional Services are all investigating Goshen Secure Center to see if behavior like this happened often. The investigation was sparked after state Senator Catharine Young visited a different center and was shocked by the behavior, and asked, "What if one of the residents get into a fight over one of the women?" Collado said he had never seen anything like that incident in his 38 years with the OCFS.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on May 24, 2010 2:36 PM

Comments [rss]

ozik

The headline led me to believe someone was going to get tazed.

akuryo

I've worked at some residential homes and depending on the program there were some where adolescents with histories of sexual abuse and violence were in programs housed with members of the opposite sex. Naturally this was a terrible idea and lead to the groups dating so you might have a 13 yr old who was molested by her father dating a 15yr old who's a convicted pedo.

In addition I have seen staff can become complacent when working with their clients forgetting how serious their crimes were because they may be good in the house because they dont talk back and follow directions well. All useful things when you are dealing with an 8 year old but with older teens it is much more complicated. Often this group will also have psychiatric problems that may or may not be treated effectively. They can be manipulative, sneaky and unpredictable to work with. Without excellent leadership and a strong workplace ethos it is very easy for something to go horribly wrong in this environment.

Why the organizers of this place thought it was a good idea to allow young adults convicted of violent and sexual behaviors to have a house party for good behavior is beyond me. While encouraging positive social behavior and rewarding good behavior are all standard parts of group home lives I think the very ethos of this home needs to be called in question.

The point of a residential home is to reform the persons so that they can return to society as a whole in time and hopefully contribute in a positive way. While I have heard of these extreme programs to rehab the worst of the worst the ones I have heard of take place in Florida in the middle of nowhere, are intensive boot campy style places and certainly dont thrown house parties. While I have not personally worked in one of these I am told they have a strong success rate for rehabilitation.

So what is the point of this home? Is it a holding cell before they are old enough to go to jail? Is it somewhere they are supposed to be rehabilitated? Is it out of sight out of mind?

robingee

Sign me up for Upstate Sexy Teen Prison!

ANGRYGOD11

The inmates will be happy to have you, over and over, until the next co-ed party.

Ritchie

Doesn't anyone else find the whole thing sad? Teen incarcerated, under-age prostitutes—this is not how life should be for kids.

NannyState

*sniff* they grow up so fast.

jaycjay

According to the article one male and one female committed some number of sex acts with each other. The word in the headline (which the censor won't let me repeat) make it sound like a lot more, but apparently "Incarcerated Teen Gets Lucky" would have been a more accurate head.

Serpentor

The Post blowing something way out of proportion in a salacious headline and then dailing back to reality in a tame article? Well I never.

Kitty Graves

$20.00 says this is somewhere out there on x-tube and that if you traced the user-account it'd belong to one of the COs at Goshen. Disgusting