Governor launches reform of California Youth Authority
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Governor launches reform of California Youth Authority
By Tim Kingston
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2005/05/19/news/13_cya_050519.txt
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has launched a major reform of the California Youth
Authority -- an effort many familiar with the system say is both daunting and
overdue.
Schwarzenegger on Monday committed to "evidence-based policy and programs" --
programs that can be proven to work.
The task is to transform the agency's educational, custodial, and mental-health and
medical-care programs from a punitive custodial-based model to a rehabilitative
model.
"We owe it to (the youth) to get them treatment so they don't harm the public, and
they become successful citizens when they leave our doors," said CYA director Walter
Allen III.
The question is: Will the planned reforms work?
And will they satisfy relatives of incarcerated youth and advocacy organizations,
such as Oakland-based Books Not Bars, that are pushing for the shutdown of the CYA's
eight institutions, which house 3,216 young wards? Three of those youth correctional
facilities -- N.A. Chaderjian, DeWitt Nelson and O.H. Close -- are in Stockton.
"Our concern is to push for facility closure," said Lenore Anderson, project director
of Books Not Bars. "This is part of a national trend. One in five states have closed
state prisons (for youth) and replaced them with regional rehabilitation centers.
This gives California an opportunity to catch up with the rest of the country."
Youth advocates want to see California adopt a system similar to one in Missouri that
puts youths in small, minimum-security dorms where they receive extensive counseling
and education opportunities.
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They argue that Missouri's success in drastically reducing youth recidivism, or
return prisoner, rates to 7 percent or 8 percent, compared to California's 49 percent
to 91 percent, is reason enough to try the Missouri model. The CYA contends
Missouri's recidivism rate is closer to 30 percent and that California has a 71
percent male and 49 percent female recidivism rate, but that is still high.
And while the Missouri model impresses CYA leaders, they contend they cannot afford
to build small state-of-the-art facilities.
Youth advocates argue the state could save millions simply by shutting down decrepit
institutions.
The state legislative analyst's office says merely repairing the current institutions
will cost $270 million. The CYA's entire budget is $400.2 million.
Stockton resident Ruth Whitmore has a grandson in the CYA and is emphatic on the
issue of closing down the large institutions.
"They should shut down every youth authority in the state, and they should take that
money and that $85,000 a year they get per kid and put it in the community, to
address the kids' needs," she said.
According to the CYA, the actual figure is $71,700 per ward per year.
Whitmore said she has seen that her grandson -- whose name she refuses to give out
for fear of retaliation against him -- suffers from medical neglect and educational
failure.
She said he never finished several vocational courses because the teachers simply
stopped attending class. And when her grandson was given medications he was allergic
to, she said, his complaints went unheeded.
When she tried talking to a doctor at N.A. Chaderjian, she was ignored. When she
wrote a letter of complaint, her son was eventually taken off the medication.
She complains her grandson was confined to his cell as punishment for having a
relative who cared. Whitmore's case is by no means unique, and in fact is not as bad
as others.
"In one month there were 272 macings," Anderson said, citing figures from a Prison
Law Office suit against the state. "In one facility. In one month. What is that, 18 a
day? That is a culture literally saturated with violence."
In 2004, four wards, including a former Lodi teen, died in CYA custody. Two of them
committed suicide.
That same year, the CYA settled a lawsuit with the San Quentin-based Prison Law
Office, acknowledging failures in custodial medical, mental-health care and
education.
Six guards now face disciplinary action for involvement in the beating of two wards
caught on a security video camera that was shown all over the news in April 2004.
It was a steep learning curve for CYA director Allen when he was appointed in late
2003. First he got hit with Prison Law Office suit, and then he began reading
critical reports about the CYA from inside and outside the government.
"To my surprise there were deficiencies in the conditions of confinement,
mental-health care, medical-health care, sex-offender treatment, the list went on and
on," he said. "I met with our legal representatives and said, 'first things first; we
are going to admit we have a problem.' Like a drug addict, the way to recover is to
admit to a problem."
"This was as close to a government meltdown as possible," said Jim Mayer, executive
director of the state's Little Hoover Commission, which has long cast a critical eye
in California's correctional apparatus.
But he lauded both the governor's and Allen's responses, which is far different from
nonaction of previous governors Gray Davis and Pete Wilson.
"They did the right thing and came out with a plan to reorganize the agency," he
said.
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all COck-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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