(02-28) 04:00 PST Sacramento -- The state's largest juvenile prison provides virtually no education services to its wards, allows them to keep makeshift ropes in their cells and keeps most of them locked up 22 hours a day, according to a report Tuesday by the state inspector general.
The report, issued more than two years after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to improve conditions inside youth prisons, concludes that the environment is so bad at the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino that wards could be especially prone to violence or suicide. Among the findings are that wards at Chino are allowed to cover their cell windows -- blocking prison staff from seeing inside. The practice, the report says, is particularly troublesome in light of a 2005 suicide at a Stockton facility in which a ward covered his cell window and hanged himself with a bedsheet.

Read more

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/28/MNGG7OCLJB1.DTL

Seems familiar,doesn't it?

To Familiar!

This is absolutely inexcusable. All we get is lip service and these politicians KNOW about this stuff. The Governor knows about it! But he has his sights on the White House. Unless this stuff is plastered on the TV it will continue to happen. Why do TV news reporters not run with this stuff.
We are failing the youth of this state.

Morris1

This is absolutely inexcusable. All we get is lip service and these politicians KNOW about this stuff. The Governor knows about it! But he has his sights on the White House. Unless this stuff is plastered on the TV it will continue to happen. Why do TV news reporters not run with this stuff.
We are failing the youth of this state.

Morris1

He'll never run for the White House because you have to be an American born citizen to do that,for him to run for pres the constitution have to be changed. I'm not going to vote for the Constitution to be changed for him to run for president. No Way! Morris,they all know about it. What is in the dark must come to the light and something has to be done about it that's for sure. I'm glad that some of those reporters don't like the gov and report that stuff.

(02-28) 04:00 PST Sacramento -- The state's largest juvenile prison provides virtually no education services to its wards, allows them to keep makeshift ropes in their cells and keeps most of them locked up 22 hours a day, according to a report Tuesday by the state inspector general.
The report, issued more than two years after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to improve conditions inside youth prisons, concludes that the environment is so bad at the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino that wards could be especially prone to violence or suicide. Among the findings are that wards at Chino are allowed to cover their cell windows -- blocking prison staff from seeing inside. The practice, the report says, is particularly troublesome in light of a 2005 suicide at a Stockton facility in which a ward covered his cell window and hanged himself with a bedsheet.

Read more

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/28/MNGG7OCLJB1.DTL

Seems familiar,doesn't it?



Well Here I go again. This should mak most everyone real happy with me.
but I will male my statments from expernice and not from what some repoter who sit behind a desk has seen
I have been a cook at one of the Youth Authorty Facilities going on almos 6 years now. Here are the type of people I deal with evryday (no I am not asking for pitty I choose to work in this line of work.) Most of the offender I work with and deal with are from 20 -23 years of age. Do you call these youthful offenders the system does. Reason being they have been in this youthful offenders system since they were very young.
Most of the ones I work with are hard core gang bangeres non programers
I work in what would be considered the SHU in CDCR. This means my crew comes from that from that area also.
I see some very smart young men wasting their lives on gang mentality. Live fast die young. As a support staf person I have seen a lot of abuse by wards on staff and vice versa. Our hand are tied on how much force we cn use to protect ourselves and others. I have been the vicitm of several assualts during my work peiord.
I will be the first one to tell anyone out here that hasn't been inside. You do what evre you have to do if it means your ass or somones elses. Anytime a ward comes at me in a threating stance you learn to take action fast. Becaue it won't be just one ward working you over.
I have been on duty when there were some sucides in our unit. Yes it is sad but there is more to these stories then what is released to the public and I am not going to go any deeper myself. These youth prison are that prison. Very depressing for both ward and staff. I have spent many a hoildays with Wards. The reason being is I am single and shift swap so those with families can be home with their familes.
The Department of Youth Authority needs a major over haul just like the adult system does. But any one that works at youth authorty will tell you that we are dealing with a more violent ward then we delt with even 5 years ago let alone 20 years ago when most of the policies were made.
Treatment has always been a big thing in youth authorty but how can you treat somone who wants to assualt every staff member they come in contact with. I have seen wards doing their eduaction studies in a cage reason being they would rather wip your ass then follow directions.
As it said in this article about ward covering their windows. On a living unit you have 200 cells and 4 staff members you just don't have time to keep after them to take down the widow covers, and do showers and count and plus allow them their time on the yard. Reason being everytime you move a wrd on thes high security units it takes two staff members to move one ward. You have a certain amount of showers that must be done on your shift. I am speaking from what I have seen I don't do showers or yard or none of thath custody crap I make trays and feed these young men. Who in turn will throw their tray back at me through the door slot. Because he or they are pissed off about something else. Alright I will stop now I have vented enough for now. Thanks people for the therapy session lol

Patrick- What is the answer to the juvenile system? Are these young men like this when they come in or does the system create them? If they have been wards of the state since age, lets say 14 by 20 years old is what you say the norm. Do you believe that real counseling and education, job skills, would be of any use or are these young men destined to possibly get out and die on the streets no matter what we do?

We keep asking for reform, but can these young men be helped into society?

Morris1

Patrick- What is the answer to the juvenile system? Are these young men like this when they come in or does the system create them? If they have been wards of the state since age, lets say 14 by 20 years old is what you say the norm. Do you believe that real counseling and education, job skills, would be of any use or are these young men destined to possibly get out and die on the streets no matter what we do?

We keep asking for reform, but can these young men be helped into society?

Morris1

Some of the men I work with you can follow a family cycle also of this type of behaivor.Can some of these young men be helped? Yes . But , How? When you send them right back to the same envierment that sent them to YA . When a young man or women hits they system at 12 years old there is defently something wrong with his/her living conditions and the way that this person is being brough up.
When I first started I worked with offenders that were in the 14 -16 years of age. Most of these offender has been through all the county programs been in foster care and most have an arreast record as long as your arm by the age of 14 -16. The only one that didn't have a long record are the one that commit the main 7 crimes that will send you to YA. ( These crimes are:( Murder, Rape, Arson., Robbery, Kidnapping, Sex crimes, and Assualts)
In my opinon it's not all fault of these young offenders. It is the fault of bad parenting or no parenting what so ever. Yes we get a few that come from "Good familes " but in general it is a endless cycle of generation after generation of just going through the system.
What kind of prgrams do we start or use to break this cycle? I really don't have the answer to thisat this time.
One thing I think as a country we need to take care of our own and build up our interstructure and stop supporting other counties at our expense.
Our society has not gotton like this ovrnight and it will not be fixed over night either. But alot of this boils down to respect for and indivual or a indivials property. To many feel I want it now I will get it now. Why should this person have it and I can't. They have insurance to cover it.
I could go on and on of the ills of our society. But how do we put a dollar amount on teaching people right from wrong. How can you teach a person right from wrong. When you only know how to do wrong just to get by?
Because I look at you the wrong way you are just going to shoot me?
Enough of my view oof the world for now.

That is good insight. These kids need to be scooped up as youngsters and raised by families who really want children. We need to get over the fact that biological parents are the best parents. About the first time a kid looks like he's heading for trouble, they need to be taken out of that environment. There really are plenty of folks who would adopt many of these kids, however our society still refuses to take kids away from lousy parents. Foster care leaves something to be desired also. People that raise kids for money are not going to be good parents. Real adoption is the best answer. Maybe Brad and Angelina would adopt American children.

Bottom line is we let them go for too long. They learn all the wrong things. How can we expect them to choose behavior they have never been shown or seen.

We waste billions of dollars on all the wrong things. You are absolutely right. Pay attention to our homeland.

Morris1

I wonder how many of those young men have been in the foster care system? I work in a large foster care facilty for abused children,most of the clients that I deal with you can tell that they will end up inventualy in prison. Sad to say but true,even tho those kids have programs there for them to deal with their issues and have been thought life skills you still see some them eventually end up in a prison. If they don't end up in prison they work in one later in life and be one of those messed up CO's,Cops or get employed in some other power position that have some control over a person or people. You hear all the time of cops, judges etc doing some wird stuff to people and if you catch them and look into thier background you see. The bottom line is,that they want control because they didn't have any at a young age.

That is good insight. These kids need to be scooped up as youngsters and raised by families who really want children. We need to get over the fact that biological parents are the best parents. About the first time a kid looks like he's heading for trouble, they need to be taken out of that environment. There really are plenty of folks who would adopt many of these kids, however our society still refuses to take kids away from lousy parents. Foster care leaves something to be desired also. People that raise kids for money are not going to be good parents. Real adoption is the best answer. Maybe Brad and Angelina would adopt American children.

Bottom line is we let them go for too long. They learn all the wrong things. How can we expect them to choose behavior they have never been shown or seen.

We waste billions of dollars on all the wrong things. You are absolutely right. Pay attention to our homeland.

Morris1


Brad and Angelina seem like they don't want to adopt American children otherwise they would have done so. Morris,most of the American people that adopt want blond hair and blue eyed children and babies and that are not on any kind medication,most of the children in foster care are. I've seen some of those kids do the same thing that those men in the SHU etc do and that's gas people to have somekind of control over you and hope that you will not mess with them. Even Tookie Williams before his execution case in point, he refused his last meal and that was to show his defiance and have somekind of conrol over his life even if it was a little. Those CO's some of them don't care to much either,they let those inmates form gangs and devide themselves along racial lines,quess what tho? they only let them have so much control and if the mess gets to much out of hand they will shoot to kill etc.

Brad and Angelina seem like they don't want to adopt American children otherwise they would have done so. Morris,most of the American people that adopt want blond hair and blue eyed children and babies and that are not on any kind medication,most of the children in foster care are. I've seen some of those kids do the same thing that those men in the SHU etc do and that's gas people to have somekind of control over you and hope that you will not mess with them. Even Tookie Williams before his execution case in point, he refused his last meal and that was to show his defiance and have somekind of conrol over his life even if it was a little. Those CO's some of them don't care to much either,they let those inmates form gangs and devide themselves along racial lines,quess what tho? they only let them have so much control and if the mess gets to much out of hand they will shoot to kill etc.

Sorry for all they type O's I'm at work and tired:eek:

They make adoption very difficult in this country. Not just CA. It is so sad what people are cabable of. Life can certainly make you bitter. I have my moments too. I have seen myself change in past years. Don't like it either. Like when the police helicopter flies over our house. "Wish I had and RPG" LOL!

I'm sure this is going to piss alot of people off, but let's be real. Women's lib is to blame for many of our children's problems. Think back to when people got married, and stayed married, and mothers stayed home and took care of the family, while fathers went out and earned a living. We did not have the problems with our kids that we have now, or the huge prison population! Sure we as women are capable of doing the same things as men, but we were created differently for a reason.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Patti

Patti- Some of what you are saying is true. However in my case, I was the stay at home mom, PTA mom the whole nine yards mom. Did all the school functions with my kids. They are in many ways just drawn to the wrong things. I have 2 sons. My younger son I did less with and he has had no problems. He is just a different kid. I believe most of it is "The friends they choose". My oldest, the one in prison abandoned the friends he had in elementary school for a different kind of friend. It was the beginning of the end. You can't force your kids to like who you want them to like.

I really don't know what happened. It happened right in front of me and I guess I didn't see it. He got good grades through middle school. High school he started having his biggest problems. He started hanging out with taggers. I was constantly dragging him out of his friends homes, chasing him all over the valley. He graduated High School with a B average because I was on him every minute. I have always felt that if I could have got him through another couple years to give him time to mature he would have made it. So much for that plan. Now he won't be home until 2014.

Morris1

Morris1- It sounds like you did everything a good Mom could do, and I agree that Patti is right in many ways. How many of your sons friends parents were out there chasing thier kids all over the valley with you? Its an uphill battle most of the time.

My daughter in law was there (Stark) early last summer and she said it was horrific!! The plumbing is crumbling, actually their unit was flooded at one time. The electrical is crap, they would lose the lights for hours at a time. And the thing is, if a parent had a child living in those conditions DCS would be all over them.

Sidenote:

She has actually just completed her probation and we are all very proud of her for the way she has turned herself around.

That is very good news and you are correct about the DCS thing. How hypocritical government is.

Morris1

I'm not saying that every kid in prison had a bad childhood. But there are so many out there that didn't, they have become the majority. If more parents were like you and alot of others we'd have less of a problem. My own mother could have been June Cleaver's twin, her and my dad were married 42 years, until his death. Yet my brother has spent the past 28 years in and out of prison, and just discharged his 2nd # last Dec. But as a whole I think our youth got the shitty end of the stick when divorce became so common.
Just my opinion.
Patti

I believe my son was an exception. He was looking for something. I will probably never know although he said "he was never very good at anything". He needed a different kind of attention I guess.

It is a diffucult thing to raise kids in California's very populated cities. To much temptation.

Morris1

Very true Morris1, if I could, we'd be in some little hicktown in the middle of nowhere. At least your son knows that he is loved, and that you tried. Too many don't even have that.
Patti

You are right about that. My son tells me all the time about guys who never have visitors and have no one on the outside checking in on them. It is so sad. I can't imagine that. I am serving my sons time right along with him. Everyone on this site feels the same. He has told me the only way he is making it is knowing we are here.

Morris1

I'm not saying that every kid in prison had a bad childhood. But there are so many out there that didn't, they have become the majority. If more parents were like you and alot of others we'd have less of a problem. My own mother could have been June Cleaver's twin, her and my dad were married 42 years, until his death. Yet my brother has spent the past 28 years in and out of prison, and just discharged his 2nd # last Dec. But as a whole I think our youth got the shitty end of the stick when divorce became so common.

Just my opinion.

Patti


I was raised in an upper middle class home and have a wonderful family yet I was in and out of trouble, did time myself. You are right...it does not always reflect on the family/childhood issues when a person is in prison. Funny you do mention divorce, my parents were divorced when I was 5 so maybe that was at the brunt of my problems.

That is very good news and you are correct about the DCS thing. How hypocritical government is.

Morris1

Thank you...it certainly is.

Patrick---some very inciteful points. I think a key to the whole problem is the fact that by the time the state gets these kids, they are beyond help. When I was much younger, I worked in a drug rehab facility--a residential high school. Most of these kids we got were between 14-18, many of them were baby felons, who made deals with the DA in order to avoid incarceration. The program I worked in gave them a safe clean environment, educational opportunities, and a bunch of adults who really cared about their well-being. I would say about half of them functioned decently in the setting, the other half either ran away, or were thrown out.

Of the 50% who made it through the program, only about 2% were drug and crime free five years later. The problem is that once they finished our program, they went back to the streets. Like Pavlov's dogs, most of them just reverted back to their old ways!

There have been some smaller programs that place the kid/teen in a half-way facility for a period of 10 years after leaving a given program. Some of them have had up to a 45% success rate. Unfortunately, it costs a fortune to do this, particularly in a big city.