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YDDC in Albuquerque improves in wake of rape

Second of 3 defendants enters plea agreement

By Susie Gran
Saturday, September 1, 2007

As the case against three juvenile inmates charged with raping a fellow inmate begins to come to a close, the state facility where the rape occurred is gearing up for changes.

Darnyle Pioche, 16, Friday became the second of the three defendants to enter a plea in the September 2006 rape of a 15-year-old boy at the Youth Diagnostic and Development Center in Albuquerque.

The case has focused public attention on crowding, staff shortages and lack of services at the center, the state's juvenile correctional facility on Edith Boulevard Northeast.

Since the rape, the center has kept its inmate population in check and improved services, Center Director Bruce Langston said.

The center had been working on improvements before the rape, but the incident "expedited the process," Langston said.

"Our program is sounder every day," Langston said. "People are going to see us on the road to recovery."

Monitors from the American Civil Liberties Union, which struck an agreement in February 2006 with the state to correct problems at the center, have continued to visit the center regularly, said Peter Simonson, executive director of ACLU New Mexico.

"It's been slow going, but there's been moderate improvement," he said. "We're still working with state officials to implement improvements."

Lack of programs and services is a constant concern in the juvenile justice system, said retiring Judge Marie Baca.

"I can only pray they are doing a better job," at the center, she said.

Baca was the judge who committed the victim of the rape to the custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department, but she had recommended he be placed in the psychiatric hospital rather than YDDC.

On Friday, prosecutor Ken Fladager said the boy was "harassed and intimidated to perform sexual favors" by his three roommates from the moment he was placed in their room.

The victim said the crime was "his initiation."

The victim's mother said if her son hadn't been raped, "I really believe Sequoyah (the psychiatric hospital) wouldn't have taken him."

She praised the hospital program. "They did an awesome job."

Her son is in private school and doing well.

A settlement agreement reached in her civil lawsuit against YDDC employees provided a trust of about $150,000 for her son, she said.

She claimed the state failed to protect her son and placed him with violent offenders. He was a probation violator with a burglary conviction.

The rape victim sat Friday in the front row of Children's Court with his mother, two victims' advocates and a counselor from Youth Development Inc.

Now age 16, the victim said he had not seen his attacker since the night he was raped at the center. The Tribune does not name rape victims.

"I was nervous. I'm always on edge when I go into that courtroom," he said after the hearing.

"The court went fine," he said. "I wish he would get the max, but the lawyer is going to fight it."

The plea agreement, however, "was a lot of relief," his mother said.

Both the mother and Children's Court Judge John Romero expressed appreciation to the defendant for his plea which cancels a trial that would be painful for the victim.

"For you to take ownership and step up is very important," Romero told the defendant. "Much additional harm has been avoided."

Pioche faces a possible 45-year adult sentence for his part in the rape according to his no-contest plea to two counts of criminal sexual penetration and one count of kidnapping. Seven additional charges were dropped per the plea agreement.

Sentencing for Pioche will come at a later date after it is determined if he will face adult or juvenile penalties.

Pioche's attorney, Tom McCall, said his client refused a plea offer of a five-year adult sentence because he "fears for his own safety in the adult system."

Under the agreement approved Friday, Pioche could receive the lesser juvenile sentence, which was not an option under the five-year offer, McCall said.

If sentenced to a juvenile facility, he will be incarcerated until age 21, the maximum penalty for a juvenile.

The third defendant is scheduled for trial Oct. 15.