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The Real Dangers of CYACommentary by Bob WeaverIn 2002, I ended a 30-year career as an institutional parole agent at DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Institution, one part of the three-facility Northern California Youth Correctional Center complex in Stockton. For approximately 20 years I served as the local CCPOA chapter president for DeWitt Nelson. It was through this experience that I became intimately familiar with the concerns at these institutions. I became accustomed to fighting for safe working or living conditions, not only for staff, but also for the wards and their treatment and rehabilitation. In response to outspoken critics like state Senator Gloria Romero, (D-Los Angeles), administration officials in Sacramento have created an extremely dangerous condition at NCYCC, especially at DeWitt. Sen. Romero has led the charge against the California Youth Authority, even calling for its closure. (In the 2005 Corrections reorganization, CYA became the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.) The rose-colored glasses the senator chooses to wear bring to focus only the needs of the wards and negate other views respecting the rights and conditions of the staff and the safety of the community. This has brought pressure on the youth division, causing the transfer of hardened criminals and delinquents to facilities that are not designed to accommodate them. These mismanaged transfers have further created safety and staff difficulties. The situation is getting out of hand and needs to be stopped. The three NCYCC facilities were originally designed with the following intent: O.H. Close would house wards 12-18 years of age; DeWitt Nelson would house wards 18-25 years of age; and N.A. Chaderjian would house the 18- to 25-year-old wards under maximum security. N.A. Chaderjian was created for those who had committed murder, rape, or had heavy involvement in gangs, such as gang leaders, or assaulted staff or wards at other institutions. In short, they clearly earned their way into a maximum security setting through their actions coupled with their disinterest in rehabilitation by refusing treatment and counseling. Some living units at Chaderjian, in order to maintain safety, house a mere 15-20 wards, though it is designed to house more than twice or three times as many. Wards demonstrating a desire to "program" were allowed to transfer to DeWitt, forestry camps and other lower security institutions throughout the state. DeWitt was designed as a medium-security institution, housing wards in 50-bed dorms. The institution was designed to house wards wanting education and counseling in sex offender rehabilitation or alcohol/drug abuse, and a parole violation program. It also included vocational training outside of the perimeter fences. These vocations included central kitchen, laundry, institutional landscaping, and a 90-ward forestry program that traveled all over the state fighting forest fires from June to October. During the winter these crews also performed community service projects for the betterment of the community. The wards, for the most part, wanted to change and succeed, and so lived peacefully in an open dorm setting. One hundred-plus wards each year participated in high school graduation ceremonies or earned their GEDs while at DeWitt. Little is ever said of these past Youth Authority successes. Continue Reading: Page 1 | Page 2  Print This PageBack to Volume 24, Issue 3 Back to PEACEKeeper Main Page |
