Eden Hendrick

"DJJ is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all youth entrusted to our care, and we will continue to fully investigate this tragic incident," DJJ Executive Director Eden Hendrick said in a statement.

Turning around South Carolina's chronically dangerous juvenile prisons is now the job of a prosecutor who sent some of those children to jail. Juvenile Justice Director Eden Hendrick tells The Associated Press she's very hopeful that reforms are actually getting some traction. She leads an agency where federal officials say staffers have hogtied, choked, slapped and bitten children. At least she'll have more money: $20 million for a separate treatment facility where severely mentally ill juveniles can get proper care, $8 million for security upgrades, $1.6 million for pay raises and $1.5 million to upgrade the system for virtual prison visits.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is appointing an attorney who has temporarily steered the state's struggling Department of Juvenile Justice to be the agency's next permanent leader. McMaster announced Tuesday that he's naming Eden Hendrick as the agency's executive director. Hendrick has helmed the department in an acting role since September, when former director Freddie Pough stepped down. The end of Pough's tenure was marked by a scathing state audit and dissatisfaction from lawmakers. Hendrick says she's worked to turn the agency around by changing up the leadership structure, refining hiring and retention practices and modernizing agency facilities that hold incarcerated youths.