California aims to phase out state-operated youth prisons
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — After years of fruitless debate, California now is on the verge of phasing out its state-operated juvenile prison system, a move hailed by reform advocates and criticized by counties that would assume responsibility for some of the state’s most violent criminal youth.
The bill state lawmakers sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom in the final hours of their annual session this week generally follows his latest plan to unravel the Division of Juvenile Justice, which has about 750 youths in four facilities, including 70 in a firefighting camp.
But legislators added what advocates said are needed safeguards and standards for the hundreds of millions of dollars that would eventually flow to counties to house and treat juveniles who now are funneled to the state lockups — restrictions that county organizations said hobble their ability to provide proper care.
“That kind of systemic transformation is exactly what I think we’re learning needs to happen in this time when you’ve seen much tumult around how the criminal justice system
operates and whether it’s fair and equitable particularly as it relates to the treatment of kids of color,” said Chet Hewitt, whose Sierra Health Foundation manages the reform group California Alliance for Youth & Community Justice.
It was among numerous criminal justice measures lawmakers sent to Newsom, including bills to create a state-level re-entry commission; allow parolees to earn a swifter end to supervision; shorten probation terms; and restrict the use of prison informants. Another bill would allow judges to send
misdemeanor offenders to diversion programs over prosecutors’ objections, and lower the age limit for the state’s elderly parole program from 60 to 50.
Newsom in May proposed phasing out the juvenile prisons, arguing that it “will enable youth to remain in their communities and stay close to their families to support rehabilitation.” Counties would stop sending juveniles to state lockups after July 1.
California would instead create an Office of Youth and Community Restoration and send grants to counties to provide custody and supervision.
“We’re one of the few states that doesn’t have a state agency that oversees the youth justice system and can effectively work with other youth-serving agencies” like child welfare and education providers, said attorney Frankie Guzman, director of the California Youth Justice Initiative at the National Center for Youth Law.
Guzman committed armed robbery at age 15 and spent six years in California’s youth prisons until he was freed in 2004. There is far more emphasis on rehabilitation today, but he recalled that “all I was offered was a cup to pee in (for drug tests) and dangling handcuffs in front of me. That’s all I got in terms of re-entry support.”
As of this year, 14% of those in juvenile prisons are serving time for murder, 37% for assault and 34% for robbery.
There are 25 females. A disproportionate 30% are Black and nearly 60% Latino.
They will stay in state custody until their time is served or they reach age 25, while those brought into the new system starting next year could stay in county juvenile programs until the same age.