I've not been keeping up with the latest developments at the Texas Youth Commission these days, but fortunately Grits for Breakfast has been. To sum up:

- The TYC is losing lots of staff members in the wake of the scandals. Remember when I said that their new policy of releasing the kids whose sentences had been unfairly extended was a good way to help bring some balance to the staff/inmate ratio? This will more than offset that, and that's not a good thing.

- Worse, the TYC is looking to fire staffers with misdemeanor convictions on their record. If you thought it was hard to adequately staff these locations before, it'll be a lot harder now. I can't see what purpose this new policy serves.

- On the other hand, not everybody who's leaving deserves sympathy. Case in point, Lydia Bernard.

Barnard, who rose quickly through the managerial ranks during her 20-year career, failed to substantiate and act on allegations that Ray Brookins, an assistant superintendent at the Pyote lockup in West Texas, was meeting alone at night with youths in his custody during 2004 and 2005, the commission reported.