Security officer at Colorado Springs juvenile facility arrested for alleged assault of inmate

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A security officer at the Spring Creek Youth Services Center has been arrested for allegedly assaulting one of the youth inmates at the facility in September.

The guard, Dean Hawkinson, 58, turned himself in to authorities Thursday after an arrest warrant was filed on second-degree assault and child abuse charges.

The alleged assault happened Sept. 12 of last year. The Colorado Department of Human Services says Hawkinson allegedly grabbed the juvenile by their arm and squeezed their neck.

Colorado Springs police say they were made aware of the incident Sept. 29 and that the department’s Crimes Against Children Unit started an investigation.

CDHS says the juvenile was medically cleared and has since been released from the facility.

Hawkinson was placed on administrative leave following his arrest, CDHS says.

“The Division of Youth Corrections condemns the alleged actions in the strongest possible terms,” said Anders Jacobson, director of the Division of Youth Corrections. “The Division of Youth Corrections not only encourages employees to report incidents of abuse and neglect – we require it.”

CDHS says the Spring Creek facility was reorganized last October, after the alleged abuse, so that the only inmates were juveniles awaiting trial. The department says the changes improved staff-to-inmate ratios at the facility from 10-to-1 to 5-to-1.

Hawkinson was named as being one of several guard assaulted by juveniles at the facility in 2014 in a Colorado Springs Gazette story.