Djj
February 3, 2012
CCPOA Weekly Update - February 3, 2012
February 1, 2012
California’s youth prisons nearing an end
In January 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown announced his plan to shut down all state youth prisons by 2014. If backed by the Legislature, the governor's proposal would have counties share $10 million to develop prudent local alternatives to state custodial facilities. By January 2013, the Division of Juvenile Justice will no longer accept any new admissions, and the entire system will gradually phase out in 2014.
There is significant opposition to this proposal from many youth advocates, probation chiefs, judges and district attorneys. Some are concerned that the counties do not have the programs and resources to manage the current DJJ population, that the youth facility closure will lead to more youth being sentenced to adult prisons and jails, and that there will be wide disparities in treatment and confinement conditions across the diverse counties of the Golden State...
LINK - SFGate.com
January 27, 2012
CCPOA WEEKLY UPDATE — JANUARY 27, 2012
While just over 200 layoff notices are scheduled to go out this week, we were able to successfully negotiate a final transfer opportunity for these members — above and beyond the original agreement — to place them in permanent intermittent positions, if they so choose. If you receive this layoff notice, there will also be a Transfer Option Sheet enclosed — we strongly encourage you to take advantage of this Transfer Option and accept one of these positions. There are more than enough of these open positions to accommodate you, so every single one of you should complete and return this Option Sheet immediately...
January 27, 2012
Juvenile Justice Cut Would be a Mistake
One of Governor Brown’s budget trigger cuts for California is the $72 million spent on the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ, formerly the California Youth Authority). The governor is proposing to shut down the state juvenile justice detention system and send the youth back to the counties for rehabilitation. On the surface, this seems like a good move—DJJ has a horrible reputation for punishing wards and providing little rehabilitative services.
Santa Clara County is well positioned to take back the14 youth they currently have in the state facility. Its two juvenile ranches are under capacity, and one could easily be converted to a higher-level program with additional funding. Other counties are less equipped to take people back. These counties do not have ranch programs and their juvenile halls are short-term holding facilities, not treatment programs. Also, many rural counties don’t have separate juvenile facilities and kids are held in a separate part of an adult jail—not a very good alternative...
LINK - SanJoseInside.com
January 20, 2012
CCPOA Weekly Update: January 20, 2012
January 13, 2012
CCPOA Weekly Update: January 13, 2012
Supervisory Update — By Kevin Raymond, Supervisory VP
On Monday evening we received more details regarding the impacts of AB 109— specifically, a list of the supervisory members whoʼve been mailed Option Worksheets by the state (a total of approximately 110 S06/M06 statewide). These worksheets must be returned by today January 13, 2012. In addition, we were scheduled to meet with the State on Thursday, January 12 to discuss supervisory seniority, as well as a myriad of other important issues. The state cancelled at the last minute, stating their decision makers were not available as the reason for cancellation. We are attempting to secure another date for this meeting. So hang in there, and stay tuned...
January 11, 2012
Behind Governor’s Plan to Close State’s Juvenile Justice System
For the second time in one year, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed permanently closing the Division of Juvenile Justice, a move that would make California the first state in the nation to eliminate its youth prison system and shift responsibility for the most dangerous young offenders to counties.
When Brown first proposed the plan, county prosecutors and probation officers protested, arguing that counties were unprepared to handle murderers and violent sex offenders. But last Thursday, Brown offered to give $10 million to help counties prepare for the new inmates. At the same time, he blocked $70 million in cuts to the DJJ...
LINK - BayCitizen.org
November 19, 2011
In California, most youthful offenders stay in juvenile detention
Although California law technically allows juvenile offenders, under very specific circumstances, to be housed in adult jails, it rarely happens.
Most juvenile offenders are housed either in county juvenile detention facilities or one of the three state facilities that house serious offenders being prosecuted in juvenile court.
Bill Sessa, spokesman with the Division of Juvenile Justice of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Sacramento, said the state doesn't house juveniles in adult prisons under any circumstances...
LINK - VCStar.com
November 10, 2011
DJJ Activation of Low Core Male Unit at Ventura Youth Correctional Facility (VYCF)
Due to the closure of the Southern Youth Correctional Reception Center Clinic (SYCRCCC) and the need for additional male beds, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) will activate a low core male unit at VYCF, effective November 28, 2011. The additional program will be incorporated with current existing low core male programs at VYCF...
October 5, 2011
New report says locking up youth is counterproductive in CA
A new report by the Annie E Casey Foundation concludes keeping juveniles incarcerated is counterproductive, as recidivism rates are close to 70 percent.
Before the State of California decided to hand over thousands of adult criminals to county jurisdictions, it had already begun to transition juveniles to local supervision.
Jo Pastore heads San Diego's Public Defenders Juvenile Office. She said - unlike the concerns about the adult transfer - the transfer of juveniles was readily accepted. She said unlike Los Angeles, San Diego never sent many juveniles to state prison, so the numbers are small. Only about two or three juveniles a month are returning to San Diego...
LINK - KPBS.org
October 5, 2011
Statewide Agreement – DJPO / DAPO Merger
September 17, 2011
Caps and gowns behind locked gates
Friday was graduation day for Brian Steven Hernandez, a goal that was never a sure thing growing up in his tough North Hollywood neighborhood.
At Jack B. Clarke High School, within the locked gates of a state youth correctional facility in Norwalk, Hernandez realized he could turn his life around.
But Hernandez and his 22 classmates, proudly wearing maroon caps and gowns, are the last graduates to receive diplomas at Clarke, which is closing at year's end due to state budget cuts...
LINK - LATimes.com
August 18, 2011
Protesters complain about DJJ facilities
A civil-rights group will stage a protest Sunday in front of the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Camarillo, alleging the facility and others like it are abusing their juvenile wards.
"We need to call attention to these abuses," Abel Habtegeorgis, a spokesman for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, said this week...
LINK - VCStar.com
August 10, 2011
Ventura DJJ walk-aways captured in Riverside County
Two teenage offenders who walked away from a work crew near Studio City last week were arrested after a brief chase, authorities said Wednesday.
Pablo Ontaneda, 18, and Christopher Ochoa, 19, were picked up at a private home in Riverside County late Tuesday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. During a pursuit, they suffered what the department described as minor injuries. After treatment at a local hospital, they were booked into Riverside County Jail...
LINK - LATimes.com
August 9, 2011
Ventura DJJ escapees sought in Los Angeles
Corrections and law enforcement officers continue to search today for two Ventura Youth Correctional Facility inmates who escaped Friday while clearing brush in the Hollywood Hills near Studio City.
Pablo Ontaneda, 18, and Christopher Ochoa, 19, were part of a work crew participating in a fire prevention project near Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon Boulevard when supervisors noticed they were missing about 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Ontaneda has been held at the Camarillo youth-detention facility since June 2010 for second-degree robbery. Ochoa has been there since July 2008 for second-degree robbery and personal use of a firearm. The men are both from Los Angeles County, said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation...
LINK - VCStar.com
June 27, 2011
DJJ problems in San Diego Tribune
In 2000, the state’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report strongly critical of how state corrections officials treated youthful offenders. Of specific concern was the practice of locking up about one-sixth of all youthful offenders for 23 hours a day with little or no documented explanation of the special detention. The report concluded that this not only probably violated due process rights but was likely to make youthful inmates even more troubled and inclined to commit new crimes upon release.
Now a new audit by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation concludes that 11 years later these practices are still common at state youth prisons. Yes, it is good to hear the department’s own audit owned up to this problem. And, yes, the explanation for the problem – the prison system doesn’t have the staffing or money to offer better conditions for youthful offenders – is quite plausible...
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com
June 13, 2011
More on DJJ audit re: “temporary detention” or “temporary intervention plans”
Juvenile inmates at California correctional facilities have been held in isolation nearly 24 hours straight on hundreds of occasions this year, in violation of state regulations.
An audit by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in March found multiple facilities operated by the Division of Juvenile Justice kept youth prisoners deemed a threat in their cells for all but 40 minutes a day. Auditors found Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, to be the worst offender...
LINK - CaliforniaWatch.org
June 13, 2011
CDCR announces closure of SYRCC
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday that it will close one of two facilities for juvenile offenders in Southern California by early next year.
The Southern Youth Reception Center and Clinic in Norwalk (Los Angeles County) is scheduled to close by January 2012 to reduce costs and improve the fiscal efficiency of the Division of Juvenile Justice, the state’s youth prison system, according to a CDCR press release.
State officials expect the closure to reduce overall costs by $17 million by summer 2012 and $44 million the following fiscal year...
LINK - BayCitizen.org
CDCR To Close Southern California Facility for Juvenile Offenders
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced that it will close one of two facilities for juvenile offenders in Southern California by early next year.
The Southern Youth Reception Center and Clinic in Norwalk (Los Angeles County) is scheduled to close by January 2012 to reduce costs and improve the fiscal efficiency of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).
“In these tight fiscal times, we must take every step possible to operate in a cost-effective manner and make every tax dollar count,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate, who noted that the closure is possible because the youthful offender population is expected to remain steady or decline in the coming years...
LINK - CDCRToday.Blogspot.com
June 6, 2011
CDCR Audit: DJJ - Ventura wards faced 24-hour confinement, classes in closets
Inmates in California’s youth prison system were subjected to nearly round-the-clock confinement on hundreds of occasions and had to attend school in closets, showers and storerooms because of staff shortages and rampant violence among prisoners, according to a recent state audit.
While Division of Juvenile Justice guidelines state that young prisoners can be confined to their rooms no more than 21 hours a day, the audit found 249 instances between January and April this year in which DJJ had violated its own policy...
LINK - BayCitizen.org
May 10, 2011
Juvenile justice reformer urges collaboration
California’s state prison population has remained stubbornly high over the past decade. The new Alameda County Chief Probation Officer wants to lead his department in a new direction, one that focuses on prevention. David Muhammad, an Oakland native, favors an approach that promotes incentives to good behavior, rehabilitation and alternatives to incarceration. These are the kinds of methods, according to Muhammad, that get the best results – fewer people in prison and on probation and parole.
“Basically, if we assess you to be low risk, we are going to leave you alone,” Muhammad said in a recent talk to journalists at UC Berkeley. “If the person is high risk, we want to provide services and opportunities, not just the old trail you, nail you and jail you...”
LINK - HealthyCal.org
March 11, 2011
Poll: CA voters support youth prevention programs over prisons
California voters think major reforms of the state’s criminal justice system are needed, and they support changes that would focus on prevention and rehabilitation programs targeted at young people, according to a new poll released Thursday.
The survey by Tulchin Research Co. of 601 registered voters found that voters favor prevention more than building more prisons and adopting tougher sentencing laws.
“They don’t have this mentality to lock everybody up and throw away the key,” said Ben Tulchin, who supervised the poll. “They see a need for reform, that the status quo is not working...”
LINK - HealthyCal.org
March 8, 2011
Activists still push to close California’s youth prisons
California Governor Jerry Brown recently scratched a proposal to shut down California’s youth prisons. The plan had been applauded by longtime prison reform groups and was just one part of Brown’s recommendations for eliminating the state’s $28 billion budget shortfall. According to San Francisco Chronicle, the Democratic governor’s plan, known as realignment, would “let counties decide once a year if they want to contract with juvenile justice to house some offenders.”
But while a complete overhaul may be off the table, activists are still hopeful that they can institute meaningful reforms in one of the nation’s largest prison system for young people...
LINK - Colorlines.com
February 6, 2011
Sac Bee editorial opposing elimination of DJJ
County district attorneys, probation officials, police chiefs, sheriffs and advocates for young criminals all express skepticism about the Brown administration's plan to have counties take over the state's entire juvenile justice system.
The governor should pay close attention to what they say.
Under policies put in place over the last decade, counties have already assumed responsibility for most youthful offenders...
LINK - SacBee.com
October 21, 2010
Preston Youth Correctional Facility to close
Officials have confirmed that the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione, the oldest operating facility for juvenile offenders in the state, will close.
A statement issued today by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the move is in response to a declining ward population at youth correctional facilities statewide. CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate said that the 224 youths currently housed at Preston would be moved to one of the five remaining Division of Juvenile Justice facilities in the state by June 2011.
CDCR spokesman Bill Sessa said the 445 employees who will be affected by the closure will be offered positions at other facilities...
LINK - Ledger-Dispatch.com
October 21, 2010
CDCR to Close Preston Youth Correctional Facility
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced that it will close the state’s oldest operating facility for juvenile offenders, the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione. The move is in response to a declining population as more youth are remaining at the local county level.
“These changes will allow the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to operate more effectively and efficiently as the state adapts to changes in our youth population,” said CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate. “We have made great strides in developing improved treatment and rehabilitation programs for juvenile offenders, and it is important that DJJ operate as cost-effectively as possible to continue that progress.”
Cate noted that the 224 youth currently housed at Preston will be incorporated no later than June, 2011 into the DJJ’s remaining facilities: the O.H. Close and N.A. Chaderjian youth correctional facilities in Stockton, the Southern Youth Reception Center and Clinic in Norwalk (Los Angeles County) and the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility...
LINK - CDCRToday.blogspot.com
June 30, 2010
DJJ’s Right-Sizing Rollercoaster
Fasten your seatbelts, you're in for a bumpy ride!
By Don Benegas, Supervising Field Rep, CCPOA Southern Office
As any Bargaining Unit Six employee in CDCR's Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) will tell you, the experience of enduring DJJ's down-sizing -- an action that management insists on calling “right-sizing” to describe the structural, operational, and economic overhaul of the entire Department -- truly has been a test of patience for most of the past year, and especially in the face of other uncertainties. The following is provided as an update to CCPOA's negotiations with the state on the status of right-sizing in DJJ...
May 19, 2010
Apprenticeship Program Decision
When an apprentice transfers from a DDJ classification to another classification like CO, the Department’s original “Internal Credit Matrix” ended up granting only a couple of months credit to an apprentice who had almost completed the program. This meant these employees were trapped in the apprentice pay range for almost 4 years and restricted them from bidding.
On March 18, 2010, CDCR’s Apprenticeship Committee addressed the impact of the closure/conversion of Stark on the DJJ Apprentices who transferred to adult institutions. The Apprenticeship Committee granted these apprentices hour-for-hour credits toward their apprenticeship in the adult classification...
March 8, 2010
Chad assault lawsuit heads to court
A fight that started six years ago at a Stockton-area youth prison, igniting statewide calls to reform California's juvenile-justice system, is about to flare up again - this time in a downtown courtroom.
Rather than exchanging physical blows, Narciso Morales, a former ward at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, and Delwin Brown, a youth correctional counselor, will let their attorneys exchange verbal jabs.
But on Jan. 20, 2004, they physically brawled in earnest.
Grainy images of a fray among two wards and two staffers splashed across national media outlets. The case turned the Stockton complex into a lightning rod.
LINK - Recordnet.net
March 4, 2010
Reducing the Ward and Parolee Populations at the Division of Juvenile Facilities
Overview of Division of Juvenile Facilities
Background. The Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF), the statutory name for the agency often referred to as the Division of Juvenile Justice, is responsible for the housing, supervision, and rehabilitation of individuals that have been committed to their custody. As a result of Chapter 175, Statutes of 2007 (SB 81, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), only juveniles who are violent, serious, or sex offenders are committed to DJF.
Characteristics of Wards. As of December 31, 2009, about 1,600 wards (generally ages 13 to 25, average age of 19) reside in DJF institutions. Males comprise about 95 percent of the ward population. Latinos account for roughly 60 percent of the total population, while African-Americans make up about 30 percent of the population. Whites and other races make up the remaining 10 percent.
Juvenile Facilities. The DJF is comprised of fi ve youth correctional facilities and two camps. Recently, DJF closed the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino...
March 2, 2010
Camarillo gets more offenders as CYA closes other centers
The number of offenders at the California Youth Authority’s Camarillo detention center has more than doubled in recent months as the state’s largest juvenile prison closed and the Division of Juvenile Justice was restructured, corrections officials said.
Nearly 380 wards were being held last week in Camarillo, compared with 176 when authorities announced in August that the Herman G. Stark facility in Chino would close, officials said. Chino officially closed last week, making Camarillo and Norwalk the only remaining juvenile prison sites in Southern California.
“We made a very conscious effort to keep the majority of the youth who were in Stark in Southern California so they would have access to their families,” said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation...
LINK - VCStar.com
February 21, 2010
A history of housing youth at Stark facility comes to a close
It was supposed to have happened later rather than sooner, but the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility will formally close by the end of the month.
And just as quickly, the state Department of Corrections begins a multi-million dollar project to transform the youth prison into a part of the adult California Institution of Men and expand its inmate housing operation in the Chino Valley.
A prison riot in August damaged facilities at the nearby California Institution for Men adult prison, speeding up Stark's closure and conversion.
An official closing ceremony will be at Stark on Monday...
LINK - SBSun.com
January 19, 2010
Another former DJJ ward at Chad, another murder - manhunt, escape and re-capture
Justin Patrick Welch, the French Camp man charged with the vicious murder of a Wisconsin woman, is scheduled to appear in court today in Waukesha, Wis., after two nationwide manhunts, a daring escape and his eventual recapture.
Welch is suspected of slaying Kimberly Smith of Oconomowoc, Wis., on Oct. 1. Her body was found with hands bound behind her back and with multiple stab wounds, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. Her 4-year-old son was home at the time, police have told the newspaper.
Welch became a suspect after his DNA was found on a knife and gloves found near the crime scene, and he is believed to have been hired through an acquaintance of Smith's ex-boyfriend, who was in a bitter custody dispute over the boy, according to published reports…
LINK - RecordNet.com
January 17, 2010
Former DJJ ward at Chad stabs own father to death
A 21-year-old Waterford man was taken into custody Monday night on the suspicion that he fatally wounded his father during a family fight.
Deputies from the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department were dispatched to the 500 block of Stein Way in Waterford around 6:30 p.m. Monday for a report of a disturbance.
When the deputies arrived they observed Jose Eucebio Corona, 21, being physically restrained by neighbors. Laying unconscious in the driveway was his father, Tomas Botello Corona, 65…
LINK - TurlockJournal.com
October 27, 2009
Environmental review launched for proposed boys school conversion
Officials from the state and the three neighboring counties who are working to convert the former El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility into a low-level, adult inmate prison, Cal Fire camp and new re-entry facility convened at the Paso Robles Library/Hall Conference Center last week to launch public scoping meetings for an Environmental Impact Report being developed for the proposed Paso Robles property.
Environmental work for the project, which sits on 160 acres at 4545 Airport Road, will include identifying possible traffic impacts to Airport Road and address other environmental issues including water, the effects of a lethal fence around its perimeter on bird deaths and the overall impact of the project on recreation citywide.
Only about five members of the public including former El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility superintendent Dave Bacigalupo and other former boys school employees were in attendance for the meeting…
LINK - PasoRoblesPress.com
October 12, 2009
Youth Prison Model Sets High Bar
After recent changes to California's juvenile-prison system brought down recidivism rates and the number of incarcerated youths, and also saved millions of dollars, the state is now aiming to treat its adult prisoners more like youthful offenders.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed into law a bill to overhaul the state's adult-prison system. Among other things, the legislation will shift more funding and responsibility for paroled offenders to counties from the state. That echoes a key move in the state's overhaul of juvenile detention — placing more nonviolent inmates in county jails instead of state prisons and helping counties fund rehabilitation services.
"We used the juvenile reforms as a starting point" for the bill, said Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, who helped to craft the legislation…
LINK - Online.WSJ.com
October 1, 2009
Fred C. Nelles sale bids coming in
This morning the first bids were taken on the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Institution — 74 green acres in Whittier that were home to county bad boys until it closed in 2004. The bidding is part of the state's fire sale of "surplus property." A California Department of Corrections report for 2003 gives a flavor of what life was like at the institution toward the end:
"At Fred C. Nelles there were 274 reports of use of force mostly involving chemical restraints."
The facility began life with the usual good intentions as a co-ed reform school in 1891 before becoming the Whittier School for Boys, and eventually being renamed the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys after a longtime superintendent — until it reached its final incarnation…
LINK - LAWeekly.com
August 31, 2009
San Bernardino County Supervisors Unhappy with CDCR
San Bernardino County Supervisors were quick to react to news that the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino will be retrofitted to house 1,200 adult prisoners.
Supervisor Chair Gary Ovitt reported his office, along with Sheriff Rod Hoops and the Probation Department, participated in a conference call late last week with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Secretary, Matthew Cate.
"We were informed that the Heman G. Stark Correctional Facility in Chino would be shut down as a juvenile correctional facility and would be reopened as the third adult correctional facility in the City of Chino," Ovitt stated in a prepared media release…
LINK - RimoftheWorld.net
August 28, 2009
California to move offenders out of Chino, the largest, harshest youth prison
California's largest and most notoriously troubled youth prison will soon shut its doors to juvenile offenders, the latest move in a systemwide shift away from punitive, adult-style warehouses that has contributed to the most dramatic downsizing of its kind in American history.
Human rights activists and crime experts alike celebrated Thursday as juvenile justice chief Bernie Warner announced the pending removal of all young offenders from the Heman G. Stark Correctional Facility in Chino. The facility now houses 390 men, including 32 from Northern California, who committed serious and violent offenses as minors.
Stark is one of the state's two most violent institutions for men ages 18 to 25 doing time for crimes as serious as rape, armed robbery and murder. By law, the young inmates, known as wards, are entitled to treatment and rehabilitation before being released. But those at Stark say they are too scared even to go to school inside the facility due to constant gang and racially motivated attacks. Some spend up to 21 hours in their cells as punishment. Counselors wear stab-proof vests…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
August 27, 2009
California to shut its largest youth prison
California's largest and most notoriously troubled youth prison will soon shut its doors to juvenile offenders, the latest move in a systemwide shift away from punitive, adult-style warehouses that has contributed to the most dramatic downsizing of its kind in American history.
Human rights activists and crime experts alike celebrated Thursday as juvenile justice chief Bernie Warner announced the pending removal of all young offenders from the Heman G. Stark Correctional Facility in Chino. The facility now houses 390 men, including 32 from Northern California, who committed serious and violent offenses as minors.
Stark is one of the state's two most violent institutions for men ages 18 to 25 doing time for crimes as serious as rape, armed robbery and murder…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
August 27, 2009
California to close its largest juvenile prison
The state is closing California's largest youth prison as the population of juvenile offenders in state custody continues to decline, corrections officials announced Thursday.
The Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino will be converted into an adult prison, state officials said. The move is part of a plan to "right-size" staff at the Division of Juvenile Justice, which is reducing its workforce by 400 employees by the end of this year to save the state up to $40 million, said Bernard Warner, the chief deputy secretary for the division.
The plan also is geared toward reducing the annual cost of incarcerating and caring for each ward from $252,000 to $175,000, state officials said…
LINK - LATimes.com
August 26, 2009
Prisons, youth programs brace for cuts
Employees of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were informed that layoff notices would be going out this week to 1,300 workers statewide, including about 1,200 in the Division of Juvenile Justice and 100 in adult programs, spokesman Seth Unger said.
A memo from department Chief of Staff Brett Morgan noted that juvenile and adult facilities in San Joaquin County would be impacted, as would juvenile facilities in Amador County. However, no specific details were available Tuesday on how many employees in the counties might be affected.
Layoff notices were also going out to prison employees in Fresno, Kings, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, according to the memo…
LINK - RecordNet.com
June 1, 2009
Editorial: “Don’t throw away the key on juvenile offenders”
Astate with a $24.3 billion deficit and a sputtering economy needs to get serious about reassessing all of its policies. One of California's most senseless practices, in its waste of tax dollars and human capability, is a law that allows juvenile offenders to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
More than 250 California inmates are locked up without possibility of parole for crimes they committed before the age of 18.
The rest of the civilized world recognizes the folly of condemning a juvenile to a life behind bars. The United States stands alone in issuing no-parole life sentences to minors, according to Human Rights Watch…
LINK - SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle)
May 26, 2009
More calls for California to shut down its youth prison system
With California mired in near-catastrophic budget woes, a growing number of researchers are calling for the state to shut down its youth prison system, which they say has become too expensive, too mired in abusive practices, and too ineffective in enhancing public safety.
There are just six remaining prisons for the state's most serious juvenile offenders, and they house the lowest number of inmates ever recorded in modern history. That has left taxpayers in an era of deep cuts to education and social services footing a bill of a quarter-million dollars each year for each of the 1,600 youthful offenders now left in state custody.
In a report headed this week to legislators wrestling with a $21.3 billion budget shortfall, the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice describes a way out: Shut down the state prison system for youthful offenders, and turn the population back to county probation departments that are sitting on empty beds in new and refurbished juvenile halls…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
February 14, 2009
State does in-depth review of Youth Correctional Facility
The state's corrections chief toured the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility Friday and met with a group of county leaders to discuss the site's future as officials consider consolidating and closing some juvenile facilities.
The facility on Wright Road in Camarillo, which houses juvenile female offenders, has been eyed by a federal receiver tasked with improving healthcare in California prisons as a possible site for prison hospital.
After touring the facility, a reception center in Norwalk earlier in the day and talking to wards and staff at both locations, Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said in an interview that he wanted to meet with local community leaders "to get their ideas on how we might utilize Ventura."…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
December 27, 2008
A state-by-state look at juvenile justice cuts
A look at how some states are handling juvenile justice programs:
California: Cuts are limited by a court order.
Connecticut: Delayed opening a small group home and spending $1.2 million to hire 50 juvenile probation officers, five judges and other support staff.
Kentucky: Nixed a boot camp-style program developed by the National Guard.
Florida: Cut three privately run programs for youth as well as department travel and hiring and did not replace employees who left…
LINK - AP.Google.com (The Associated Press)
October 11, 2008
Reinstatement of Corrections Employees Upheld
The Third District Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the state Personnel Board's decision to reinstate six correctional employees who were fired for their roles in a videotaped beating of two inmates at a California youth prison.
Ruling in an unpublished decision that the video alone did not provide a basis to reject an administrative law judge's findings that the employees did not use excessive force in the 2004 incident or lie to cover it up, the court held that a trial judge erred when he ordered the board to set aside its decision and conduct a new hearing.
In a case that drew national attention, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation fired four youth counselors and two correctional officers from the Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton after the release of the video, accusing them of misconduct in their response to—and subsequent statements regarding—a struggle which occurred after the inmates attacked two of the counselors…
LINK - MetNews.com (The Metropolitan News-Enterprise)
September 27, 2008
State has no plans to close youth site
The director of the state's youth correctional system said Friday that, contrary to assertions made earlier this week by the prison healthcare receiver, his agency has no plans to close the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility and in fact intends to transfer an additional 80 wards to the site if it remains open.
In a letter to Ventura County officials sent Tuesday, Receiver J. Clark Kelso announced he intends to move forward with plans to convert the facility to a 1,500-bed specialized adult healthcare facility that would house inmates with chronic medical and mental health illnesses.
Kelso wrote he did not begin looking at the 60-acre site near Camarillo until after his staff was "informed by CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) officials that the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility would be closed…"
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
September 5, 2008
Stopping the School to Jail Pipeline in California
Recent media accounts have reported on the rising rates of school suspensions in California. Clearly, the problem is statewide, but is worse in neighborhoods already stressed by high rates of violence and poverty. We seem to be staring directly down the "school to jail pipeline"—meaning that youth that have behavior issues walk a fine line between school and the corrections system. Before we fall back on the hackneyed and disproven solution of more police (especially officers untrained to handle teens) or more punitive responses, we owe it to our youth to think carefully.
We have a right to ask a great deal of our schools; they must be safe, respond to the current realities of the families they serve, and strive for high student achievement. However, they need the tools and resources to do all we ask of them. School budgets are in dire straits. We have cut everything from music, sports, and after-school programs, to counselors and mental health services. Teachers lack training in handling difficult student behavior. They have less freedom to respond to the varied learning styles of their students and more pressure to conform to standardized tests. We must not resign ourselves to an increasingly harsh school culture…
LINK - CaliforniaProgressReport.com
August 6, 2008
Paso Robles boys school in ‘warm’ closure
El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility officially shut its doors on July 31 for what state officials referred to as a "warm closure" with most of its existing employees landing jobs in San Luis Obispo, Soledad and Salinas.
Spokeswoman Josi Slonski said the majority of the Paso Robles boys school staff was placed within the adult division of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at California Men's Colony, CDCR's Correctional Training Facility in Soledad and Salinas Valley State Prison.
Effective Aug. 1, an estimated five employees were to stay at the facility including maintenance personnel to keep the institution running, Slonski said. Effective last Friday, the institution was officially to be referred to as the Estrella Correctional Facility and shed its former name…
LINK - AtascaderoNews.com
July 15, 2008
Report says Calif. should end juvenile prisons
A state watchdog commission has recommended that California phase out its antiquated juvenile prisons by 2011, replacing them with regional lockups run by the counties. The regional centers would hold only the most dangerous offenders under the proposal unveiled Monday by the watchdog Little Hoover Commission. Less serious offenders would be housed at local juvenile halls.
Commissioners said the state also should end its three-year experiment with combining youth and adult prisons under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Authority over youth prisons would be placed under an Office of Juvenile Justice reporting to the governor until the state ends its involvement.
The report also suggests that the youth prisons do little in the way of rehabilitation, saying three of four freed young offenders commit new crimes within three years…
LINK - LasVegasSun.com
June 24, 2008
Officials, employees bid fond farewell to boys school
After more than six decades of exemplary service to youthful offenders and the community at large, it was bittersweet last Friday for many of the staff past and present, family, and officials who convened at the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility for a final farewell closing ceremony.
An estimated 1,000 people braved the intense heat, exchanging hugs and handshakes to recognize the facility's upcoming closure and commend those who contributed to its long history…
LINK - PasoRoblesPress.com
June 17, 2008
Boys School to host closing ceremony
High-ranking state officials from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will visit El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility this Friday, June 20 for a closing ceremony. The ceremony comes in light of an upcoming July 31 closure, whereby the facility will undergo a facelift to be repurposed to house 1,000 inmates in a low-level adult prison for people 50 years or older and Cal Fire camp on its 150-acre site…
…Immediately following the announcement of the proposed closure last January, the facility housed an estimated 350 employees. As of press time, around 100 of those employees had left the facility and may have relocated elsewhere, according to Josi Slonski, spokeswoman…
LINK - PasoRoblesPress.com
June 10, 2008
Questions aren’t answered about jail site proposal
Workers and residents pressed for answers Monday about a proposed adult prison hospital at the current site of a juvenile correctional facility in Camarillo, as a state lawmaker increased her criticism of the plan.
Camarillo residents and workers at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, which would be closed to make way for the hospital, held separate meetings Monday with state corrections officials who said they are not in charge of the proposal and could offer little concrete information about it.
The site of the youth facility north of Highway 101 near several farms and the Sterling Hills community is on the short list of potential sites for the adult medical complex that would serve high-risk offenders in need of mental and medical care, and which is still in the exploratory phase…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
June 5, 2008
State OKs changes for juvenile parole violators
The state has agreed to provide attorneys and timely hearings for juveniles accused of violating parole, in a settlement of a federal class-action lawsuit by youths who said prison officials infringed on their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit, filed nearly two years ago by former wards of the state's Division of Juvenile Justice, alleged that the state was violating youths' rights to due process by detaining them for months without legal counsel or a hearing on the charges and by failing to offer assistance for those who were disabled, as required by federal law.
In some cases, youths would be held for so-called technical violations of the terms of their release, such as consuming alcohol or traffic offenses…
LINK - LATimes.com
March 10, 2008
Schwarzenegger’s New CDCR Appointees
Marisela Montes, 54, of Gold River, has been appointed deputy director of the division of adult institutions for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Since 2007, she has been senior adviser to the Division of Adult Institutions for CDCR. From 2006 to 2007, Montes was chief deputy secretary of Adult Programs at CDCR. She previously served as deputy director for administration at the Department of Transportation from 1999 to 2006 and chief of correctional planning and research at CDCR from 1998 to 1999. Montes held various positions within CDCR from 1984 to 1999, including deputy director of the Parole and Community Services Division and associate warden at California State Prison, Solano. Prior to that, she held positions at the Department of Social Services from 1981 to 1984 and State Personnel Board 1980 to 1981. Montes began her career in state service as a postsecondary education specialist at the California Postsecondary Education Commission in 1977. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $142,428. Montes is registered decline-to-state.
Kimberly Petersen, 45, of Modesto, has been appointed community program manager for the Northern California Re-Entry Facility in Stockton for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Since 2007, she has been a professor of victimology at California State University, Stanislaus. From 1999 to 2007, Petersen was executive director of the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation and, from 1996 to 1999, was a teacher at Joshua Cowell Elementary School in the Manteca Unified School District. From 1991 to 1995, she was recreation director for the Livermore Valley Tennis Club, and from 1987 to 1991, was a teacher and athletic director at Our Savior Lutheran School. Prior to that, Petersen was a teacher at Zion Lutheran School from 1986 to 1987. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $87,048. Petersen is a Republican.
March 4, 2008
Future of El Paso de Robles: State Proposes 1,000-inmate Prison
The former boys school in Paso Robles could become a 1,000- inmate prison after it closes in July, state prisons officials announced Monday. That new option joins two alternatives that have circulated since the closure was announced Jan. 3.
The other proposals call for a state re-entry prison with about 200 inmates and a firefighting camp. The property could house one or two of the proposed facilities, or have all three, state officials said.
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
March 2, 2008
AP finds 13,000 claims of abuse in juvenile detention centers
The Columbia Training School - pleasant on the outside, austere on the inside - has been home to 37 of the most troubled young women in Mississippi.
If some of those girls and their advocates are to be believed, it also is a cruel and frightening place.
The school has been sued twice in the past four years. One suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which the state settled in 2005, claimed detainees were thrown naked in to cells and forced to eat their own vomit. The second one, brought by eight girls last year, said they were subjected to "horrendous physical and sexual abuse." Several of the detainees said they were shackled for 12 hours a day…
LINK - AP.org (Associated Press)
February 29, 2008
Brawl puts Chad, system under scrutiny
Two unnamed staffers at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility near Stockton are under investigation after an alleged fight with a ward Jan. 21, a California Correctional Peace Officers Association spokesman confirmed Thursday. […]
CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran confirmed the probe into the alleged Jan. 21 fight, but he declined to name the two staffers or give details of the incident. He was critical of state prison officials, who oversee the state's Division of Juvenile Justice, including Chad. "True to form by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, after a correctional officer is viciously assaulted, it appears they are trying to blame the staff member for it," Corcoran said. "This was a 20-year-old ward who assaulted a staff member."
LINK - Recordnet.com
February 18, 2008
Juvenile prison system needs reform, lawyers say
Advocates urge a judge to appoint a receiver to take over a system they say remains broken despite long-standing promises to fix it.
Three years after state officials promised to fix California's troubled juvenile prisons, advocates for incarcerated youths are urging a judge to appoint a receiver to take over a system they say remains tragically broken. The plea came in a filing last week from lawyers who had settled with the state after suing to transform institutions they said treated children as hardened criminals without regard for their welfare. They contend that the state's Division of Juvenile Justice has missed dozens of court-ordered deadlines for change dating to 2005, making "a mockery of compliance" in six areas: education, safety, medical care, mental health, disabilities and sex-offender treatment…
LINK - LATimes.com
February 17, 2008
Juveniles tried as adults up 170%: DA Cites Gang Prosecution
The district attorney's decision to try 14-year-old Brandon McInerney as an adult in the killing of another boy is part of a soaring trend in Ventura County. In the past two years, the number of juvenile offenders tried as adults has nearly tripled from 10 in 2006 to 27 in 2007, officials say — a nearly 170 percent increase. Also, in the four previous years — from 2002 to 2005 — the total number of such cases was just five, according to figures from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
February 5, 2008
Little Hoover Commission Public Hearing Scheduled
Meeting Scheduled: Thursday, February 28, 2008
9 a.m., Sacramento
Description of Study
The Little Hoover Commission is reviewing California's juvenile justice system. Recently enacted realignment legislation shifts responsibility for nearly all juvenile offenders from the state to the counties. The Commission has the opportunity to provide input and guidance as the process of the realignment unfolds.
The focus of the Commission's review will be on the opportunities and challenges for the state and counties in implementing realignment and what will be required to accomplish it effectively. The Commission will examine the two main elements of the new policy: the shift in responsibility from the state to the counties for the majority of juvenile offenders and how it will be accomplished; and, the role and remaining responsibilities of the state, specifically the Division of Juvenile Facilities, for the most serious and violent juvenile offenders and some sex offenders.
In this review, the Commission continues the oversight process it began following the 2005 reorganization that merged the California Youth Authority into the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In January 2005, the Commission reviewed the Governor's plan to reorganize California's correctional agencies and create the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In recommending that the Legislature allow the reorganization to go into effect, the Commission committed itself to monitor the progress of the new department in key areas, one of which was juvenile justice reform. The Commission has held meetings to monitor the progress during the past two years and will expand its oversight with this review.
If you would like more information regarding this study, please contact the project manager, Carole D'Elia. To be notified electronically of meetings, events or when the report is complete, please send a request to littlehoover@lhc.ca.gov. For more information on the Little Hoover Commission, or to see written materials from past meetings and studies, please visit www.lhc.ca.gov.
January 17, 2008
Bill Aims to Ban Life Terms for Minors
Sara K. says that if she was freed from prison she would try to help children who find themselves in the same terrible circumstances she had to endure as a young teen. But Sara doesn't ever expect to be free. She is among 227 people in California serving life sentences without parole for crimes committed when they were ages 14 to 17. Sara's crime? At 16, she killed her 31-year-old pimp, who steered her into prostitution over three years…
LINK - InsideBayArea.com
January 12, 2008
An Opportunity to Make Juvenile Detention Better
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to close one of its three remaining youth prisons in Stockton by July. That's good news for Stanislaus County. Why? Because the county will be closer to providing better rehabilitation, education, health care and, if necessary, incarceration for juvenile lawbreakers…
LINK - ModBee.com
January 9, 2008
Special Report: State Closing 2 Youth Prisons
Last week we posted 2 articles about the DJJ closings at El Paso de Robles and Dewitt. Below are some articles gathered over the weekend where CCPOA officers and representatives were quoted, expressing the feelings of the union on these closures:
- Dewitt Youth Prison to Close (Quote: Lance Corcoran)
Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said the state officials did not consider its employees - some with years of service - who may now end up driving up to 50 miles for work. Corcoran said he also feared the wards would be crowded together in an attempt to save money: "As usual, this is about short-term dollars, not long-term solutions." FULL ARTICLE - Recordnet.com - Two Youth Prisons to Close (Quote: Ryan Sherman)
Ryan Sherman, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents the youth correctional counselors who staff the juvenile facilities, said that shutting the two prisons doesn't fit with Juvenile Justice's stated goal to break down its remaining population into smaller living units that ultimately would require more overall space. Sherman also said transfers are going to force some youth counselors to take jobs in state prisons working with adults… FULL ARTICLE - SacBee.com - Paso Youth Facility to Close (Quote: Louie Adame)
Louie Adame, a state vice president for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said the union expects to discuss employment options for his 157 members at the facility. Adame said he expects the state will be able to relocate the workers who want to move within the system. But local options are limited. "There will be plenty of jobs," he said. "It's a matter of how much it disrupts their lives" to move… FULL ARTICLE - SanLuisObispo.com - Youth Correctional Facility Closing in Paso Robles (Quote: Robert Dean)
"We're here for our people and we will see them through the negotiation process that has to take place before any of this is final," said Robert Dean of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assocation… FULL ARTICLE - KSBY.com
January 7, 2008
State to Close 2 Juvenile Prisons
State prison officials announced today that they are shutting down two of the state's eight remaining juvenile prisons, one of them in Stockton and another in Paso Robles…
LINK - SacBee.com
January 5, 2008
El Paso de Robles Correctional Facility to Close in July
The El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility is set to close in July, its 350 or so employees were told Thursday, because of state budget cuts and declining ward populations. The former California Youth Authority facility is scheduled for closing as part of cuts contained in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's draft 2008- 09 budget…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
December 20, 2007
Governor Appoints New CDCR Staff
The Governor has appointed Doug McKeever, 44, of Sacramento, as director of juvenile programs for the Division of Juvenile Justice in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Peggy Ritchie, 62, of Carmichael, has been appointed program manager for the division of program and policy development and assessment for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…
LINK - Gov.CA.gov
December 13, 2007
San Joaquin County to Reap “Millions” from Juvenile Justice Shift
Nonviolent offenders in the state juvenile justice system are on their way back into the arms of the county as part of a statewide shift that local officials said will bring in money to pay for social, vocational and other programs to help the young people make the transition back to mainstream society…
LINK - RecordNet.com
July 1, 2007
Accountability Audit: Review of 2000-2005 CDCR Audits
This report presents the Office of the Inspector General's annual effort to perform a comprehensive follow-up review on previous recommendations issued to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In this effort, the Office of the Inspector General assesses the department's progress in implementing past recommendations affecting the Division of Juvenile Justice (formerly the California Youth Authority) and the Board of Parole Hearings (formerly the Board of Prison Terms). The Office of the Inspector General analyzed the department's efforts to take corrective action on 182 recommendations included in two 2005 Accountability Audits--comprising 12 audits the Inspector General originally issued from 2000 to 2003--as well three audits completed in 2005. Together, the 15 audits included 349 original recommendations--330 directed to the Division of Juvenile Justice and the other 19 directed to the Board of Parole Hearings.
