By Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
May 2, 1998

The head of Arizona's welfare agency vowed Friday to close Arizona Boys Ranch if investigators document a pattern of child abuse at camps for delinquent youth.

Linda Blessing, director of the Department of Economic Services, said revelations about the March 2 death of 16-year-old Nicholaus Contreraz at an Oracle boot camp are "just shocking," and she vowed to conduct a thorough investigation of that case and charges of mistreatment that have arisen since.

Blessing said she's been instructed by Gov. Jane Hull to "make sure we do the right thing," adding, "We're going to call it like we see it."

Boys Ranch suffered a setback in Maricopa County Juvenile Court on Friday when presiding Judge John Foreman ordered the release of more than 1,000 pages of abuse records on file with DES.

The file contained 1994 cases where youths were punched, head-butted, thrown against walls and otherwise abused by staff members at the Boys Ranch campuses. An attorney for the non-profit agency fought so hard to keep the records sealed that she was admonished by the judge.

The judge's ruling could set precedent for release of other documents sought by the media.

Bob Thomas, president and executive director of Boys Ranch, has not responded to interview requests for days. He and board chairman Richard Hazelwood could not be reached Friday.

Contreraz, a Sacramento youth, had complained of breathing difficulties, vomiting and diarrhea for days before his death. He was given a clean bill of health, then died of a severe lung infection as guards forced him to work and do exercises.

Hospital workers filed a report of suspected child abuse. The coroner found 71 wounds on his body. Boys at the Oracle camp told detectives Contreraz had been targeted for abuse by staffers who thought he was faking sickness.

Boys Ranch initially conducted an internal probe and concluded there was no wrongdoing by the staff. Later, the Oracle campus director was replaced and three employees were fired. Carl Prange, the new director, acknowledged that Contreraz was mistreated and given inadequate medical care.

The death and other complaints are under investigation by DES, the Pinal County Sheriff's Department, California's Department of Social Services and Sacramento Probation Services Department.

The Boys Ranch houses about 500 juvenile delinquents at eight Arizona campuses, and is the largest privately operated youth rehabilitation facility in the state. It uses military-style discipline and exercise as part of an instructional method designed to eliminate anti-social behavior.

NO DETAILS

Blessing said conditions at the campuses, which house mostly out-of-state boys, appeared to be improving until Contreraz's death. Now, she added, DES must determine whether Contreraz's case and 22 new allegations represent "a pattern - a pervasive problem" that can be solved only with a license revocation.

Blessing acknowledged she has felt political pressure in the past, but said that it comes from critics of Boys Ranch, as well as powerful supporters, and that she was never influenced.

She said three Child Protective Services workers are assigned to the current inquiry. They are expected to complete work this month. Other employees are about to review the license for Boys Ranch, which is up for renewal in June.

RIGHT AGENCY?

When it comes to mistreatment, Blessing said, DES views delinquent boys like any others: "They are children who need to be safe."

She said her agency has a philosophical conflict with a Boys Ranch tactic known as "addressing," which involves verbal and hands-on discipline for recalcitrant boys. Many of the abuse charges in DES files stem from "addressing" incidents, including those released Friday by Foreman.

The files, sought in a lawsuit by the Arizona Daily Star, cover 54 abuse allegations in 1994 - 12 of them substantiated.

Foreman made the documents public despite repeated protests from Kaja-Anne Jezycki, general counsel for Boys Ranch, who twice asked the judge to stay his ruling so she could appeal.

Jezycki argued that public dissemination of the files would cause "irreparable harm" to Boys Ranch employees who were identified as abusers in 12 cases of mistreatment substantiated by state investigators. She also noted that those employees and Boys Ranch have a pending lawsuit against DES that alleges the investigations were shoddy and the state violated their constitutional rights.

Foreman ruled that, under state law, he is required to weigh the public interest against the rights of the employees. He said Boys Ranch is a commercial enterprise, funded with tax dollars under a state contract, and citizens have a legitimate interest in the treatment of juveniles and spending of public funds.

MOTION DENIED

"It's late, it's vague, it's unspecific," said the judge, noting that Boys Ranch has known for weeks that he intended to make the documents public.

After court adjourned, Jezycki immediately asked Foreman to reconvene for another motion. This time she sought a stay so that she could appeal his denial of her earlier motion.

Foreman, clearly perturbed, ruled against her again.

Jezycki declined an interview.

Many of the documents released Friday were obtained by The Arizona Republic for stories written four years ago. Among them are typical abuse stories along with claims that staffers scalded a boy's foot in hot water and used tweezers to pluck a boy's nose hairs as punishment.