Juvenile hall to close end of ’21 as Breed loses battle
tion does not address either the underlying systemic issues that have negatively impacted our youth and their families, nor does it answer any of the difficult questions around how we would actually go about closing Juvenile Hall,” she said in a letter last week to board President Norman Yee. “Reforming the juvenile justice system will require time and dedication to identify best practices and new ways of thinking about how we serve our youth.”
Breed created her own task force in March to examine the county’s juvenile justice system, including how best to use its nearly vacant juvenile hall, and to make recommendations for potential reforms. The panel started meeting in April.
District Attorney George Gascón, Public Defender Mano Raju and school board President Stevon Cook, however, threw their support behind the supervisors’ proposal.
Critics, including Juvenile Probation Chief Alan Nance, have questioned whether there was enough time to fully adopt alternatives to juvenile hall before the mandated closure.
The legislation requires the board to review plans at least six months prior to the end of 2021.
Supervisor Shamann Walton said Wednesday that he and other supervisors have already started to identify alternative approaches for treating youth offenders, including settings that don’t have cells and metal toilets. They’ve also scouted locations for new facilities.
“Truth is, we have been working towards achieving our goals for young people ever since we passed the ordinance at the Board of Supervisors,” said Walton, adding that he’s started to visit sites and consult with juvenile justice experts.
Supervisors drafted the proposal following a recent Chronicle report that documented a dramatic drop in serious youth crime that has left the state’s juvenile halls nearly empty and perinmate costs skyrocketing.
“I’m excited that we have an overwhelming majority from the Board of Supervisors, the community, and how it is the law,” Walton said. “We are focused on setting up the 15member task force, speaking with the courts and looking at models that provide the needed supports for young people.”
San Francisco’s 150bed juvenile hall is typically less than a third full, pushing the annual cost to incarcerate a child to $374,000 in 2018, up from $135,000 in 2011.
In recent months, there have been about 40 youths held in the facility at any given time, with an average stay of 23 days last year, county officials said.
The San Francisco Probation Department directed $11.9 million to juvenile hall last year, an amount that has remained relatively flat since 2011, even though the average daily population has been cut in half. The new ordinance urges the county to redirect savings to youth programs.