Ex-Texas youth jail administrator gets 10 years in prison for sexually abusing teen inmate
By APFriday, April 23, 2010
Ex-youth jail official gets 10 years for sex abuse
ODESSA, Texas — A former Texas youth jail administrator has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage inmate.
Jurors spent more than an hour deliberating Friday before handing down the sentence for Ray Edward Brookins.
Brookins was convicted Thursday of abusing the then-18-year-old inmate at the Texas Youth Commission’s West Texas State School in 2004.
Prosecutors had asked for the maximum 20-year sentence. Assistant Attorney General Ralph Guerrero told jurors that Brookins treated the young offenders under his watch “like human sex toys.”
Brookins denied ever sexually assaulting anyone.
The case ignited a statewide scandal that prompted Texas lawmakers to order a radical overhaul of the juvenile prison system.
