California Sunshine
07-02-2005, 12:34 PM
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/12041577.htm
Hired to reform agency
By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - A juvenile corrections administrator from Florida was named Friday as the latest official charged with reforming California's troubled youth justice system, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sweeping reorganization of the prison bureaucracy took effect.
Bernard Warner, 50, was named chief deputy secretary for juvenile justice in the new California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He has been assistant secretary for probation at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice since 2003.
State Sen. Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said she worried about the ''revolving door'' leadership in California's juvenile system but was complimentary of Warner. She said California officials who visited Florida's juvenile justice system ''came back very impressed with him. He 'wowed' people.''
Warner said he expects to present a detailed plan to reform the troubled agency within four months.
Like California, Florida's juvenile system has had several recent scandals. Last year, a 17-year-old ward died after authorities ignored his burst appendix for three days. It also has been plagued by reports of inappropriate sexual contact, improper physical restraint and excessive stays in isolation units at the Florida Institute for Girls in West Palm Beach.
A series of scathing reports last year found draconian conditions in the California system, including the use of cages and drugs to subdue youths who were mentally ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol and should have been receiving treatment instead.
Warner replaces Walter Allen III, who held the top juvenile prison post since 2003. Allen was named assistant secretary for correctional safety -- the ''top cop'' in the reshuffled agency. He will be in charge of the investigative units that track parolees, gangs and inmate crime for both the youth and adult systems.
Schwarzenegger said Friday's transition marks ''a new day for corrections in California as we put into place the structure needed to bring reform to our prison system and protect public safety.''
Schwarzenegger's reshuffling of the prison system is the largest in three decades and is part of his effort to restructure state government. It affects more than 54,000 employees and 280,000 adult and youth inmates or parolees in 33 adult and eight youth prisons.
The reorganization concentrates power and responsibility in the hands of Roderick Hickman, who remains secretary of the new agency, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as he was of the old Youth and Adult Correctional Agency.
''We are committed to significant changes and significant reform in California,'' said Hickman, promising that ''this is just the beginning.''
The reorganization ''is moving deck chairs, but ultimately there is no substantive change except in name,'' said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Two new health care officials named Friday should help the agency comply with Thursday's decision by a federal judge to appoint a receiver who will oversee a medical system so poor that an average of an inmate a week dies of neglect or maltreatment.
For the first time, the agency will have a Division of Community Partnership to work more closely with police and community organizations, part of a new drive to deter as well as punish criminals.
Schwarzenegger also named a new 10-member Board of Parole Hearings that under the restructuring replaces the Board of Prison Terms, Youth Authority Board and the Narcotic Addict Evaluation Authority. But only two of the appointees are new, the other eight having served on either the adult or youth boards, so officials said there should be no delays in parole hearings.
He also named members of a new Corrections Standards Authority to replace the old Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training and Board of Corrections.
The agency spent $20,000 to produce a new logo and other materials such as new letterhead, but said it absorbed other costs of the transition into its normal operating budget.
Hired to reform agency
By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - A juvenile corrections administrator from Florida was named Friday as the latest official charged with reforming California's troubled youth justice system, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sweeping reorganization of the prison bureaucracy took effect.
Bernard Warner, 50, was named chief deputy secretary for juvenile justice in the new California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He has been assistant secretary for probation at the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice since 2003.
State Sen. Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, said she worried about the ''revolving door'' leadership in California's juvenile system but was complimentary of Warner. She said California officials who visited Florida's juvenile justice system ''came back very impressed with him. He 'wowed' people.''
Warner said he expects to present a detailed plan to reform the troubled agency within four months.
Like California, Florida's juvenile system has had several recent scandals. Last year, a 17-year-old ward died after authorities ignored his burst appendix for three days. It also has been plagued by reports of inappropriate sexual contact, improper physical restraint and excessive stays in isolation units at the Florida Institute for Girls in West Palm Beach.
A series of scathing reports last year found draconian conditions in the California system, including the use of cages and drugs to subdue youths who were mentally ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol and should have been receiving treatment instead.
Warner replaces Walter Allen III, who held the top juvenile prison post since 2003. Allen was named assistant secretary for correctional safety -- the ''top cop'' in the reshuffled agency. He will be in charge of the investigative units that track parolees, gangs and inmate crime for both the youth and adult systems.
Schwarzenegger said Friday's transition marks ''a new day for corrections in California as we put into place the structure needed to bring reform to our prison system and protect public safety.''
Schwarzenegger's reshuffling of the prison system is the largest in three decades and is part of his effort to restructure state government. It affects more than 54,000 employees and 280,000 adult and youth inmates or parolees in 33 adult and eight youth prisons.
The reorganization concentrates power and responsibility in the hands of Roderick Hickman, who remains secretary of the new agency, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as he was of the old Youth and Adult Correctional Agency.
''We are committed to significant changes and significant reform in California,'' said Hickman, promising that ''this is just the beginning.''
The reorganization ''is moving deck chairs, but ultimately there is no substantive change except in name,'' said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Two new health care officials named Friday should help the agency comply with Thursday's decision by a federal judge to appoint a receiver who will oversee a medical system so poor that an average of an inmate a week dies of neglect or maltreatment.
For the first time, the agency will have a Division of Community Partnership to work more closely with police and community organizations, part of a new drive to deter as well as punish criminals.
Schwarzenegger also named a new 10-member Board of Parole Hearings that under the restructuring replaces the Board of Prison Terms, Youth Authority Board and the Narcotic Addict Evaluation Authority. But only two of the appointees are new, the other eight having served on either the adult or youth boards, so officials said there should be no delays in parole hearings.
He also named members of a new Corrections Standards Authority to replace the old Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training and Board of Corrections.
The agency spent $20,000 to produce a new logo and other materials such as new letterhead, but said it absorbed other costs of the transition into its normal operating budget.