Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN – Aides to key state senators were told of sexual abuse allegations at Texas youth prisons in an e-mail two years ago. Other documents and testimony two years ago by a Texas Youth Commission official described the problem as well. Gov. Rick Perry's office was alerted, too.

But none of the warnings detailed the extent of the alleged abuse. They did not suggest a blooming crisis. And state leaders said Tuesday that they either didn't see the documents – part of the flood of paper and messages that accompanies a legislative session – or weren't told how broad the problem was.

The e-mail, released Tuesday by TYC officials, shows that staff members for four senators on the chamber's Criminal Justice Committee were sent correspondence flagged "high importance" detailing possible sexual abuse in early March 2005 – less than a month after the investigation at the West Texas State School began.

Records show the agency also provided a three-page memo on the investigation to the panel, of which Democrat John Whitmire of Houston is the chairman

And at a March 15, 2005, meeting of the committee, Youth Commission Director Dwight Harris raised the issue at the end of long testimony on his agency. He told committee members he wanted "to mention one other, um, situation ... about sexual impropriety between staff and youth."

Mr. Whitmire, visibly distracted by the dozens of other people in the audience waiting to testify on the fight at the South Texas youth facility, told Mr. Harris, "You can brief us at an additional time."

The warnings represent a missed opportunity to address the abuse scandal coming to light throughout the TYC. Lawmakers were about halfway through their 2005 session and would come back to Austin several more times for special sessions on school finance, and they could have launched their own inquiry or even overhauled the agency.

But state leaders say it was too early in the investigation and the information was too sketchy.

On Tuesday, Mr. Whitmire accused agency officials of trying to deflect blame by pointing to e-mails and memos "no one can recall getting." He said they never attempted to follow up with lawmakers on the results of the investigation.

If the best they can do is dig through their files to lay blame somewhere else, he said, they should all be removed from their jobs.

"They've governed an agency that allowed employees to sexually abuse their residents, then be covered up," Mr. Whitmire said. "Now they have an opportunity to come clean, to put the agency on right footing, and they're down there wasting everyone's time talking about an e-mail."

A TYC staffer released the e-mail at reporters' request after Don Bethel, the new chairman of the TYC board, indicated Tuesday that several lawmakers likely had known about the allegations before he and other board members.

"I'm not trying to go back and rehash blame," Mr. Bethel said after Tuesday's emergency board meeting. "We want to make this transparent. We're interested in fixing it."

The March 9, 2005, e-mail was sent to staffers for four senators: Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands; Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen; John Carona, R-Dallas; and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. The author, Joy Anderson, the youth commission's chief of staff at the time, included detailed information on allegations against Ray Brookins, assistant superintendent of the West Texas State School in Pyote.

"Dwight Harris, TYC Executive Director, wanted to be sure your senators had information about the status of this investigation at TYC's West Texas facility," Ms. Anderson wrote. "We will keep you updated as we have additional details."

Criminal Justice Committee briefing materials prepared by the Youth Commission and dated March 11, 2005 expand on the details in the e-mail. The papers say that Mr. Brookins had been "engaging in an inappropriate, sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male youth who is currently residing at the school."

The documents say Mr. Brookins may have molested two other students, with an additional 16 inmates alleging strange or inappropriate behavior on his part. The briefing materials indicate that claims against other employees surfaced during the investigation of Mr. Brookins.

Ted Royer, a spokesman for Mr. Perry, said that while his office got basic information in the March 2005 e-mail, it never received anything as complete as the briefing prepared for the Senate committee. He said the governor was not legally entitled to a copy of a Texas Rangers investigation report because the inquiry was ongoing.

Mr. Whitmire said that if he had seen the e-mail his committee members got, it's unlikely he would have responded.

"There's no urgency, no crisis mentioned," he said. "It says it's the beginning of an investigation and that the Rangers are taking the proper steps."

And, he argued, if the TYC had really wanted to let people know about the problems, staffers would've sent the e-mail to the entire Criminal Justice Committee and its staff, not to aides for a few individual senators.

Kerri Davidson, the agency's current chief of staff, said the e-mail "doesn't by any stretch" mean those Senate staffers were the only people notified. She said she's only been on the job six months and has limited access to e-mails sent by her predecessor.

In a statement released Tuesday, Mr. Ellis did not refute that his staff received the e-mail. "There is plenty of blame to go around regarding TYC's problems ... but let's not lose sight of the real issue here: the abuse of these children and what needs to be done at all levels to ensure the problems are resolved."

Most of his colleagues, though, said they didn't recall being informed about sexual abuse claims in youth prisons. The burden was on the TYC to make sure they were well-informed on its results, they said, instead of thinking a quick e-mail or 15 seconds of testimony on an incredibly busy hearing day was due diligence.