MASSILLON, Ohio — Following our coverage of an Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility worker being attacked by two 18-year-old inmates, several former employees contacted us to express concern over staff safety.
RELATED: Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility staff member allegedly attacked by 2 teens with a hammer
We spoke with a former Indian River employee on Tuesday about what they heard regarding the incident. They asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
"I heard that two youth from Bravo units assaulted a teacher in the classroom. He was talking about how to use a hammer. These two youth had planned to assault someone and they picked him and they were punching him and then got a hold of some hammers and started beating him in the head with the hammers," they told me.
The Department of Youth Services (DYS), which runs the Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility, confirms the two teens involved were arrested and transported to the Stark County Jail.
The pair accused of attacking the staff member have been charged with Felonious Assault, according to the Stark County Jail inmate roster on April 9.
My thoughts and prayers are with the dedicated teacher who was viciously attacked at Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility. I was first advised of the attack Wednesday morning, and I was sworn in as Chair of the Correctional Institute Inspection Committee (CIIC) that afternoon. We are awaiting the official report of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and will be using that report to work with the Director of Youth Services and the CIIC to review any corrective action. Our focus is on the protection of both the staff and the juveniles at Indian River to assure that rehabilitation remains the focal point.
"While we do have policies and safety measures in place to prevent youth-on-staff violence, when an incident does occur, we take it seriously. In addition to the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s criminal investigation, we will be conducting an internal review to determine how this happened and what can be done differently in the future," DYS Chief Communications Officer Aaron Mulvey explained.
When we first interviewed the anonymous former Indian River staff member, they alleged the facility's current leadership team was to blame — calling the work environment "chaotic."
Mulvey argues, "Under the leadership of our new superintendent, Indian River staff have come together as a team. Working with the highest risk, highest need incarcerated youth in the state is an inherently dangerous job that will never be without risks, but violence against our staff members is not tolerated."
DYS confirms 20 youth-on-staff assaults have happened this year so far, which, according to the agency, is a decrease of 31% compared to the last quarter of 2024.
"Please note that these incidents vary in severity level and can range from a youth pushing past a staff member to more violent conduct such as what occurred this week," Mulvey said.
We spoke with two former Indian River employees Sunday night about their concerns and experiences while working at the facility.
Former Operations Manager Megan Sargent said she worked at Indian River for more than two years.
"It was wild. It was definitely wild. It was busy and overwhelming at times; very understaffed," Sargent described.
Sargent, as well as former Corrections Officer Delshawn Simpson, also claim they endured mental abuse and intimidation.
Sargent left the facility on her own accord after she claims to have dealt with a multitude of issues, including miscommunication and a lack of understanding.
"I wasn't gonna be put through it anymore like mentally, everything had changed for me. I was assaulted. I had memory loss. I wasn't sleeping. I have little kids at home. They don't deserve that, and I was tired on my three days off," Sargent stated.
Sargent claims she was assaulted by a then-13-year-old.
"We're talking about a 200 pound kid that overpowered me by half my body who was 13 years old. He hit me the day before his birthday of turning 14," Sargent said. "I had a concussion, bruising to the chest, neck and back. My L2 to my S1 is crushed and the nerve that runs down your spine to your hip is completely pinched off somewhere. They can't find it, and I have a labrum tear in my right hip."
Simpson said he, too, was assaulted a handful of times by youth.
"My assaults were more like a bite on the shoulder or when I first started I was spit on there; elbow to the eye. That was the big one," Simpson said. "It shut my eye. I have some damage to my back too. I was injured during a restraint too."
The Correctional Institution Inspection Committee (CIIC) reviewed the Indian River Facility in June 2024.
The report reveals that out of 16 areas of critique, 11 are "in need of improvement," including violence outcome measures, unit security management, and youth discipline.
"Staff at varying levels expressed concern over recent assaults with a liquid mixture of urine, feces, and semen. These occurrences were confirmed by youth," the report reads.
The report notes the need to improve violence outcome measures due to a change in DYS policy.
"In September, 2022 DYS changed their population management philosophy to integrate youth, including gang populations. Since then, violence and Transitional Separation have continued to rise," the report states.
While the CIIC's 2025 report has not been released yet, a one-page version was sent to me. The unannounced inspection was supposedly on Jan. 9.
The report lists security threat groups (gangs), sexual assaults, disciplinary processes, and Transitional Separation as ongoing issues.
"It has a large impact on the high staff turnover rates," the 2025 report states regarding sexual assaults. "Youth repeatedly do not face consequences for these actions."
The report explains the sexual assaults it refers to are youth throwing bodily fluids mixed together, again, including semen.
"DYS does not consider this a sexual assault," the report adds.
According to the CIIC 2025 report, there were 88 youth-on-staff assaults in 2024. That's allegedly down from 99 in 2023 and 122 in 2022.
The report, however, shows that youth-on-youth assaults and fights have been rapidly increasing over the span of three years.
I sent the 2025 report, as well as the 2024 report, to DYS this week and asked for an interview. The agency declined to go on camera but told me it has never seen the 2025 report before and called it "misleading."
"There are many inaccuracies and errors within the documents," Mulvey said. "Most of the data from the reports are misleading because they do not include previous normal operations in the years before the pandemic. Due to pandemic-era operations, it is inappropriate to make comparisons from 2024 or 2025 to the pandemic years. It is appropriate to look at recent years in comparison to 2019."
Mulvey provided DYS's key data points to rebut CIIC's latest preliminary inspection report:
- Youth-on-Staff Assault Incidents
- Calendar Year 2025 YTD* has 46% fewer monthly Youth on Staff Assault incidents (6.7) than Calendar Year 2019 (12.3).
- Youth on Youth Assault Incidents
- Calendar Year 2025 YTD* has 15% fewer monthly Youth on Youth Assault incidents (33.3) than Calendar Year 2019 (39.1).
- Youth on Youth Fight Incidents
- Calendar Year 2025 YTD has 19% fewer monthly Youth on Youth Fight incidents (14.3) than Calendar Year 2019 (17.7).
- Overall Acts of Violence (including Youth Sexual Misconduct) Incidents
- Calendar Year 2025 YTD has 13% fewer monthly Acts of Violence incidents (62.7) than Calendar Year 2019 (72.2).
The above graph was provided by DYS.
When Simpson and Sargent were asked if they agree with DYS's data, they said no.
"I think it's remaining the same," Sargent said. "Staffing is bad. I don't think it's getting better. That assault for that teacher, he did not deserve it. He is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Don't get me wrong, like the overtime is great, money's great, whatever, but it doesn't bring happiness. It doesn't bring safety and that man did that job because he genuinely loved what he does and he did a lot for those kids like he created multiple different programs for them."
Simpson alleges many incidents are swept under the rug — saying, "Let's start subpoenaing some documents. Let's start seeing some real facts that's going on in there."
Simpson said a real change would be scrapping current leadership and starting over.
"People just want to be listened to, just want to be heard. I could sit there and say what everybody else says: DYS needs new leadership, but who's gonna be ballsy enough to take it?," Sargent shared. "If you're sitting in that superintendent chair, you're a puppet."
The CIIC said it plans to release the full 2025 inspection report for Indian River within the next month.
