USA Today, May 15, 2007 AUSTIN - Texas authorities are investigating whether guards at state juvenile detention facilities broke the bones of 60 young offenders as a result of abusive tactics. The newly disclosed review comes amid spreading concerns about the treatment of teenage inmates. The investigation is part of a criminal inquiry into the Texas Youth Commission, one of the nation's largest juvenile justice systems, with about 4,000 offenders. It was triggered by medical reports over five years showing inmates were treated for suspicious breaks, commonly the humerus, the long bone in the upper arm, according to Dr. Ben Raimer, who oversees commission health care services for the University of Texas Medical Branch. Investigators suspect the arm injuries occurred when guards yanked offenders' arms upward while the limbs were shackled behind the youths' backs, said Jay Kimbrough, who has been appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to direct the state inquiry. The review has grown out of a broader investigation of sexual abuse and physical assaults of inmates and other improper conduct by the staff. In Texas, the nation's third largest youth detention system based on a 2003 Justice Department census, Raimer said concerns about suspicious broken bones surfaced in 2005 with the discovery of three cases. At the time, Raimer said the state medical branch notified the Texas Youth Commission. Within 30 days, he said, medical authorities were told that "steps were taken" to deal with possible use-of-force abuses and that two staff members had been fired.