Board to Seek CYA Care for Juveniles Now in Jail

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By Los Angeles Daily News

Published: 08/06/2003

Los Angeles County supervisors voted July 8 to negotiate a $1.2 million contract with the California Youth Authority to house dozens of teens who are being incarcerated in the Men's Central Jail while awaiting trial on adult charges. In recent weeks, various groups, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, have urged the county to find another facility to house the 40 or so youths who are charged as adults.
Because the CYA typically houses juveniles only after they've been convicted, the teenage defendants are being kept in the Men's Central Jail, a dank, dark facility built in 1963. Because the youths must be separated from adult inmates, they are allowed outdoor recreation for only 30 minutes a day in a rooftop cage. Three of the youths have attempted to commit suicide since May.
'When I went there, I entered my dirty, roach-infested, urine-soaked cell with one blanket and a sheet to cover my steel bed,' a 17-year-old inmate wrote in a letter to the supervisors. 'I was locked down for 23 hours a day for six months. I saw the sky once every two weeks when I got 30 minutes of recreation on a small roof area.
'We got no church services, just plastic crosses. I learned how to make weapons by filing down a toothbrush. An adult inmate who worked as a trusty taught me how to rob a bank. I saw inmates set on fire, beat down and brutally stabbed.' The county grand jury report issued last month found that juveniles tried as adults are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by jail staffers and 50 percent more likely to be attacked with a weapon than youths in a juvenile facility.
'I will just say that although the module was inspected by the (state) Board of Corrections and appears to meet minimal standards, the conditions there are nothing short of scandalous,' said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Rosemead. As the incidence of serious and violent crimes by juveniles has increased dramatically recently, a total of 150 youths in the county have been charged as adults. Most of these teenagers are held at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and are charged with murder, attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping, rape or burglary.
In a report to the supervisors, Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen recommended that the county negotiate a contract with the CYA to house the youths at its facility in Norwalk, which can provide the youths with educational, recreation and counseling programs.

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