MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Civil rights attorney Ben Crump shared his office’s latest discoveries into the abuse allegations at Youth Villages during a press conference Thursday, Dec. 21.
The presser addressed the death of 17-year-old Alegend Jones, who died after an incident occurred at 7386 Memphis-Arlington, the location of the Bartlett campus of Youth Villages.
Crump said Jones was assaulted, battered, and choked. He presented medical records, claiming Jones experienced brain compression, among other injuries like cerebral edema and rhabdomyolysis, which is a rare condition often seen in people who have suffered major injuries or trauma, though the condition can also have other causes.
The civil rights attorney called on Youth Villages to release video of the incident.
“Youth Villages know what happened to her,” Crump said.
Jones’ mother, Shauna Garner, said a member of Bartlett Police told her the video is extremely disturbing.
“I just want justice for my child,” she said.
Last week, two siblings came forward to say they were also abused at Youth Villages. Since then, Crump said similar calls continue to come in.
Youth Villages responded to Thursday’s press conference, saying many of the allegations are false and inaccurate.
The organization said they are fully cooperating with official investigations and have provided surveillance camera footage of the incident to all relevant public safety and health authorities, but cannot share the video publicly due to confidentiality and privacy laws.
You can read the full statement from Youth Villages below:
We are awaiting official medical reports, including the autopsy, before commenting on anything medically.
We have been and continue to be fully transparent and working with all authorities. Last week, the leaders of our program met with Shona Garner White. We also received a representation letter from Ben Crump earlier this week. Our counsel responded and offered to have a conversation. We are still awaiting his response.
We are fully cooperating with the official investigations. This has included providing surveillance camera footage of the incident to all relevant public safety and health authorities. Due to confidentiality and privacy laws, we do not share surveillance camera footage of our facilities publicly.
Many of the other claims being made continue to be false and inaccurate. We reiterate the following from previous statements (linked here: Dec. 13 and Dec. 1):
- There were no abusive or otherwise inappropriate interactions directed toward the young person.
- The young person was brought to the health department by two female staff and was never alone with male staff or asked to undress in front of male staff.
- Child abuse and neglect are not tolerated under any circumstances. Allegations of abuse or neglect are taken very seriously and reported directly to Child Protective Services. Any allegation is thoroughly investigated by third parties.
We will provide updates when available.