JMK
05-14-2007, 10:43 PM
From the Capital Alert: http://www.sacbee.com/815/story/179811.html (http://www.sacbee.com/815/story/179811.html)
Schwarzenegger proposes closing youth prison system's facility in Stockton
By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 7:50 pm PDT Monday, May 14, 2007
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposed shutting down another facility in the troubled youth prison system, and corrections officials say more such closures could be on the way, including one of the most violent lock-ups in the state.
Schwarzenegger's revised budget proposal included closure of the Dewitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton, which would cut to seven the number of youth prisons operating in California.
A gubernatorial budget proposal disclosed in January sought to cut off intake for all non-violent juvenile offenders beginning July 1. If that proposal takes hold and California counties find they can absorb the numbers, the Division of Juvenile Justice is prepared to look at shuttering even more of its youth prisons.
"If they do that, we will be looking at other closures," said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jim Tilton, whose agency contains the juvenile justice division.
Next on the list after the Dewitt Nelson facility, corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said, is the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino. The Stark prison came in for a recent blasting by the Office of the Inspector General because of continued problems at the facility that houses some of the worst young offenders in the state.
"It's safe to say that as counties begin to accept more of the population, Stark would be a facility we would look at for closure," Hidalgo said. Asked if Stark is next after Dewitt Nelson on the corrections closure list, Hidalgo said "yes," but he added, "It's not going to be an overnight thing."
The closure of the Stockton facility would come as the state's youth prison population is in major decline. Since 1995, it has gone down from 9,927 to 2,509 as of the beginning of this year.
"A lot of courts just don't want to send kids to CYA anymore," said Sue Burrell, an attorney with the Youth Law Center in San Francisco, who attributed their reasoning to "all the publicity" about violence and other problems in what used to be called the California Youth Authority.
Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, has a bill that has cleared the Public Safety Committee and is now residing in the Appropriations Committee to wipe out the Division of Juvenile Justice. Her Assembly Bill 1655 cited the situation at Stark, where wards are locked in their cells 22 hours a day, and contrasted it with the ability, she said, of counties to provide better services closer to youthful offenders' hometowns.
Lieber welcomed Schwarzenegger's proposed shuttering of the Stockton facility.
"It's a step in the right direction," she said. "We're still strongly advocating that the youth system be dismantled. But I think this is a positive step. Even a piecemeal approach should be considered."
Along with the criticism leveled by Lieber, the state's juvenile prison system has come under additional heat from inmate rights lawyers.
In late 2004, Schwarzenegger announced that the state was settling a class-action suit aimed at the old CYA operation. The settlement's key provision required the state to prepare a remedial plan that would improve conditions of confinement, medical care, mental health care, sex-offender treatment, education and disability access.
Sara Norman, an attorney with the Prison Law Office, which filed the suit, said in an interview Monday that the state has failed to keep its word on the settlement deal, mostly through its inability to fill 83 percent of the new positions it agreed in 2004 to create.
"It's hard to say what the problem is with them when there's nothing happening that is right," Norman said. "They've sent us an 11-page list of missed deadlines. There is no there there."
The Dewitt Nelson facility housed 334 wards as of May 9, according to the corrections agency. At the same time, it employed 225. The closure would save the state $10.8 million over the next two years, according to corrections spokesman George Kostyrko.
None of the employees at the facility will lose their jobs, corrections officials said. The state's first option will be to absorb them into other youth prisons in the Stockton area.
Facility spokeswoman Marna Hawkins said there was "a little confusion" at the youth prison Monday.
"There's some anxiety and stress," she said. "People are trying to figure out what their options are. They're not taking it badly. People had been expecting it. There have been a lot of rumors and so forth."
The closure would be the fourth in the system since 2003. Others include the Karl Holton Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Center in Stockton, the Northern California Youth Correctional Reception Center and Clinic in Sacramento and the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier.
Schwarzenegger proposes closing youth prison system's facility in Stockton
By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 7:50 pm PDT Monday, May 14, 2007
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposed shutting down another facility in the troubled youth prison system, and corrections officials say more such closures could be on the way, including one of the most violent lock-ups in the state.
Schwarzenegger's revised budget proposal included closure of the Dewitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton, which would cut to seven the number of youth prisons operating in California.
A gubernatorial budget proposal disclosed in January sought to cut off intake for all non-violent juvenile offenders beginning July 1. If that proposal takes hold and California counties find they can absorb the numbers, the Division of Juvenile Justice is prepared to look at shuttering even more of its youth prisons.
"If they do that, we will be looking at other closures," said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jim Tilton, whose agency contains the juvenile justice division.
Next on the list after the Dewitt Nelson facility, corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said, is the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino. The Stark prison came in for a recent blasting by the Office of the Inspector General because of continued problems at the facility that houses some of the worst young offenders in the state.
"It's safe to say that as counties begin to accept more of the population, Stark would be a facility we would look at for closure," Hidalgo said. Asked if Stark is next after Dewitt Nelson on the corrections closure list, Hidalgo said "yes," but he added, "It's not going to be an overnight thing."
The closure of the Stockton facility would come as the state's youth prison population is in major decline. Since 1995, it has gone down from 9,927 to 2,509 as of the beginning of this year.
"A lot of courts just don't want to send kids to CYA anymore," said Sue Burrell, an attorney with the Youth Law Center in San Francisco, who attributed their reasoning to "all the publicity" about violence and other problems in what used to be called the California Youth Authority.
Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, has a bill that has cleared the Public Safety Committee and is now residing in the Appropriations Committee to wipe out the Division of Juvenile Justice. Her Assembly Bill 1655 cited the situation at Stark, where wards are locked in their cells 22 hours a day, and contrasted it with the ability, she said, of counties to provide better services closer to youthful offenders' hometowns.
Lieber welcomed Schwarzenegger's proposed shuttering of the Stockton facility.
"It's a step in the right direction," she said. "We're still strongly advocating that the youth system be dismantled. But I think this is a positive step. Even a piecemeal approach should be considered."
Along with the criticism leveled by Lieber, the state's juvenile prison system has come under additional heat from inmate rights lawyers.
In late 2004, Schwarzenegger announced that the state was settling a class-action suit aimed at the old CYA operation. The settlement's key provision required the state to prepare a remedial plan that would improve conditions of confinement, medical care, mental health care, sex-offender treatment, education and disability access.
Sara Norman, an attorney with the Prison Law Office, which filed the suit, said in an interview Monday that the state has failed to keep its word on the settlement deal, mostly through its inability to fill 83 percent of the new positions it agreed in 2004 to create.
"It's hard to say what the problem is with them when there's nothing happening that is right," Norman said. "They've sent us an 11-page list of missed deadlines. There is no there there."
The Dewitt Nelson facility housed 334 wards as of May 9, according to the corrections agency. At the same time, it employed 225. The closure would save the state $10.8 million over the next two years, according to corrections spokesman George Kostyrko.
None of the employees at the facility will lose their jobs, corrections officials said. The state's first option will be to absorb them into other youth prisons in the Stockton area.
Facility spokeswoman Marna Hawkins said there was "a little confusion" at the youth prison Monday.
"There's some anxiety and stress," she said. "People are trying to figure out what their options are. They're not taking it badly. People had been expecting it. There have been a lot of rumors and so forth."
The closure would be the fourth in the system since 2003. Others include the Karl Holton Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Center in Stockton, the Northern California Youth Correctional Reception Center and Clinic in Sacramento and the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier.