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NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Five Idaho juveniles have been removed from a Utah treatment facility following a report of sexual misconduct, officials say.
Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray tells the Idaho Press-Tribune that the misconduct was reported in March at the Copper Hills Youth Center in West Jordan, Utah.
"We set high standards for ourselves and for our contractors," Sharon Harrigfeld, director of the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections, said in a statement. "Upon receiving the report, IDJC took immediate action to assure the safety of all of the IDJC juveniles in the facility including subsequent transfer to other facilities."
Ray said the misconduct occurred between an Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections inmate and another juvenile at the center.
Copper Hills Youth Center officials didn't return a call from The Associated Press on Thursday.
The facility is a therapeutic residential treatment center that specializes in working with adolescents ages 12 to 17 who have emotional or mental health disorders. It also offers a program for adolescent male sexual misconduct.
The Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections has had its own problems at a southwest Idaho juvenile detention facility. A supervisor in 2014 pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a minor after having sex with a 15-year-old male inmate at the Juvenile Corrections Center in Nampa.
Several former inmates at the facility have started legal actions against the state claiming sexual misconduct by staff.
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Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
