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Embattled SC DJJ director Freddie Pough resigns, governor names acting chief

State - 9/21/2021

Sep. 21—COLUMBIA, S.C. — The embattled director of South Carolina's juvenile justice agency has resigned, months after dozens of correctional officers and teachers walked off the job in protest over working conditions at a Columbia detention facility for juvenile offenders.

Freddie Pough, a former South Carolina Law Enforcement Division lieutenant who had led the state's Department of Juvenile Justice since 2017 and was one of few Black Cabinet directors, offered his resignation to the governor Monday.

"It has truly been a privilege to serve the citizens of our state by providing services to the more than 4,000 young people who penetrate the juvenile justice system each year," Pough wrote in a one-page letter to Gov. Henry McMaster. "This position has not been without its challenges, but it is beyond words to describe the fulfillment I've received from serving in this role."

With Pough gone, McMaster named Eden Hendrick, 41, the agency's acting director. She will serve as acting director until McMaster decides his next nominee, who will need Senate confirmation.

McMaster had stood by Pough in the face of intense pressure from lawmakers who called for his resignation following the April release of an audit that identified widespread staffing, training and security problems at the agency and which one lawmaker called a "damning indictment" of South Carolina's juvenile justice system.

Pough had defended his tenure and said the report cast an incomplete and often inaccurate picture of the agency. But he had struggled to contain the damage wrought by the audit amid a series of headline-grabbing scandals.

"I'm grateful for Mr. Pough's five years of leadership at the Department of Juvenile Justice and his passion for the work of rehabilitating the young people who come under the supervision of the agency," McMaster said in a statement sent to media. "We will immediately begin working to find the best possible person to lead the agency into the future."

Pough faced heat amid audit, walkout

Some South Carolina lawmakers, particularly senators, celebrated Pough's resignation, months after the Senate issued a no confidence vote for him.

"It's painful how long this took, nobody knows how many children were harmed by his tenure there," said state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland. "This has been going on for years."

After the audit's release, Senate lawmakers formed a special subcommittee to examine it and subsequently penned a letter to S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson imploring him to scour the report for evidence of criminal conduct.

The state Department of Administration and SLED also opened reviews of Juvenile Justice's policies and procedures, at the request of the governor, and the state Department of Corrections had been working with Pough to revamp employee scheduling.

Lawmakers took Pough to task at the audit subcommittee hearings, during which he acknowledged he'd failed to report incidents of child abuse and neglect at the agency's facilities to SLED or the Department of Social Services.

"Do you understand what you're doing is a crime? Do you understand that?" Harpootlian hectored the now former director after he admitted not reporting a 16-year-old detainee's recent suicide attempt.

Pough told Harpootlian, a former prosecutor, he had not known he was required to do so. Nearly two weeks after the hearing, Pough issued a statement asserting the agency had complied with the law and was not required to report such incidents to SLED or social services because it investigates them internally.

Employee discontent over working conditions at the agency's Broad River Road Complex also boiled over in early June when workers walked off the job to protest what they said was inhumane treatment.

Juvenile correctional officers were routinely being forced to work 24-hour shifts, or longer, without breaks because the department was so short-staffed, workers alleged.

The lack of staffing not only depleted correctional officers and slowed their response times, but also left them vulnerable to assaults by juveniles, they said.

Officers said numerous employees had taken leave due to injuries suffered on the job and some had quit after reaching a breaking point.

Jeremy Lee, a welding instructor at DJJ's Birchwhood High School, called on SLED or the federal government to take over the facility because he said employees could no longer do their jobs.

Pough, who also had been criticized for his alleged failure to take as active a role at the detention complex as his predecessors, spoke with employees after the walkout and acknowledged that significant improvements were needed at the agency.

During a Senate hearing the following week, disgruntled current and former DJJ employees aired a deluge of complaints about Pough's leadership and the state of the agency.

Pough testified that he'd made significant progress since taking over the department and said he'd been working tirelessly to address employee's staffing concerns. In the wake of the walkout, the agency secured temporary staffing assistance from the Department of Corrections and was working with a private staffing company to bring on 10 more officers, Pough said.

"I'm committed to this because I believe we're doing great work. I believe that we're on the cusp of making this change," he told lawmakers. "I believe that we've partnered with the right people to bring about the desired results for this committee and for the state."

At the close of the hearing, all five members of the audit subcommittee issued a vote of no confidence in Pough. The full Senate in June then issued a vote of no confidence of Pough.

In his resignation letter, Pough touted his work while running the agency including reducing the number of juvenile offenders entering the system by increasing efforts and programs to prevent juvenile delinquency. He added recidivism rates among juvenile offenders has dropped during his tenure.

"I am proud of the work taking place at the agency," Pough wrote.

The search for the next DJJ director

Pough's resignation marks the second time in four years the state's Juvenile Justice chief has been brought down by a legislative audit that exposed problems at the agency.

In 2017, then-Director Sylvia Murray resigned just one day after the release of a critical Legislative Audit Council report.

Pough, who at the time was serving as the agency's inspector general, was appointed interim director and later confirmed as director the following year.

With Hendrick named acting director, McMaster said he plans to work with stakeholders to find the next permanent chief.

Before Tuesday, Hendrick was the department's senior deputy director, most recently serving as assistant general counsel at the state Department of Administration.

She has an extensive legal career, with degrees from the University of South Carolina and the University of Georgia.

Her resume includes work in the Richland County Family Court Division in the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's office from 2015 to May 2020, and she was a staff attorney in the Governor's Office Foster Care Review Board, according to her resume. She also worked as an attorney with the state Department of Social Services, in part representing the agency in cases involving abuse and neglect, and she worked at the Department of Administration.

Reporter Emily Bohatch contributed to this article.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

This story was originally published September 21, 202110:01 AM.

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