On October 3, 2023, Sergeant Inspectors with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) obtained an arrest warrant for Class “A” Assault, on Austin Baugh, age 29, a recently separated Juvenile Correctional Officer at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex. The alleged offense is a Class A Misdemeanor under the Texas Penal Code Chapter 22.01 punishable by up to a $4,000 fine and confinement in jail for a period of up to a year. Baugh voluntarily surrendered at the Brown County Jail. This case will be referred to the Special Prosecution Unit.

This arrest warrant emanated from an investigation conducted by the OIG of an incident cthat occurred on September 15, 2023. While working as a Juvenile Correctional Officer, Austin Baugh allegedly grabbed a male offender, age 18, lifting him up and slamming him onto the floor, causing him to experience pain and bodily injury, namely causing a laceration above his eye, and causing a minor concussion. This incident was a violation of TJJD use of force policy and was captured on both overhead surveillance and body-worn camera video.

The Office of Inspector General is the independent law enforcement agency that is statutorily responsible for investigating criminal allegations involving TJJD juveniles, TJJD employees, TJJD facilities, contractors, or programs of the Texas juvenile justice system. Anyone can report allegations of misconduct to the Incident Reporting Center by emailing a complaint to TJJD.IRC@tjjd.texas.gov, or by calling a 24-hour-a-day toll free hotline 1-866-477-8354. Historical TJJD incident data can be found on the Open Data Portal of Texas.gov https://data.texas.gov/dataset/Incident_Reporting/d5x8-xxfd