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Following the death of young girl in the juvenile boot camp program at the South Dakota state training school in 1999, reports of routine use of shockingly harsh methods of discipline and restraint at the facility surfaced. The Youth Law Center conducted an investigation in response to these allegations, and subsequently filed a federal class-action lawsuit to protect the children confined in the facility. Through the litigation, the Center was able to obtain video footage shot by staff at the facility after the Governor had ordered facility staff to videotape all incidents of "use of force" by staff on young people at the facility. "Out of Control," a sampling of the videotaped footage obtained in the lawsuit, dramatically demonstrates that staff regularly used excessive and abusive force on young people. It shows staff forcing youth into four-point metal handcuff restraints, overwhelming youth with "cell entry teams" dressed in riot gear, spraying youth with pepper spray for minor misbehavior, leading youth around the facility on a leash, and attaching youth to a large "restraint board." Many of the young people were suicidal or had other mental health problems.

As in many juvenile facilities around the country, there were a disproportionate number of youth of color in the South Dakota facility. Thus, despite the fact that Native American youth account for only about 10% of the adolescent population of South Dakota, Native youth constituted 40-45% of youth in the facility. In addition, during the Youth Law Center's investigation and subsequent lawsuit it was discovered that in addition to being over-represented in the facility compared to their representation in the State, Native youth in the facility were very often treated more harshly than White youth, with Indian children making up almost 90% of the children in the most secure units in the facility. Moreover, the Center also discovered that Native youth were being punished for speaking in Lakota, which was considered a violation of facility rules.

The Youth Law Center filed the lawsuit in February, 2000, and reached a settlement with the State in December, 2000, to end the abusive practices, provide adequate mental health and educational services, and appropriate training for facility staff. During 2001, Center attorneys and experts monitored the facility.

As the State came into compliance with the settlement, there were enormous changes at the facility: the use of restraints was virtually eliminated, isolation in rooms was used on a very limited basis, two full-time mental health clinicians were hired and the amount of time for a contract psychiatrist was doubled, and a comprehensive training program was developed for staff. Equally important, the entire atmosphere of the facility changed, as punitive repression was replaced by an emphasis on active programming with clinical support. The population of the lockdown unit went from full-capacity 43 when the litigation began to 3 or 4, and those youth spent the day programming with the non-lockdown units and only slept in the secure unit. The population of the facility was over 120 when the litigation commenced, but by June 2001 it was 51 (girls were removed from the facility immediately after the lawsuit was filed). The state officials also changed the policy prohibiting youth from speaking Lakota, began providing cultural diversity training for staff and brought in Native American staff to provide culturally appropriate activities for Native youth.

In December 2001, the State closed the State Training School. Despite the improvements that had been made following the lawsuit, the closing of the facility in many respects was a major victory for the children and families of South Dakota.

Although the Center prevailed in the lawsuit, it is clear that the struggle to find justice for Native American youth in the juvenile justice system is not over. Recent federal reports and other studies reveal alarming statistics on the status of Native American youth: Native American youth represent 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet they constitute 2 to 3 percent of youth arrested for such offenses as larceny-theft and liquor law violations. Additionally, Native American youth between the ages of 12-20 are 58 percent more likely to become crime victims than Whites or Blacks. Alcohol related deaths among Native Americans ages 15-24 are also 17 times higher than the national average; and the suicide rate for Native American youth is three times the national average.