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| Families of Boys Found Hanged at CYA Facility File Legal Claims |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 02/11/2004 |
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The California Youth Authority, battered recently by criticism for overmedicating and improperly punishing inmates, came under attack again Tuesday by the parents of two teenagers found hanged in a cell they shared in a Northern California facility last month. Standing in front of Los Angeles County's Central Juvenile Hall, the parents of 17-year-old Deon Whitfield and 18-year-old Durrell Taddon Feaster said they were frustrated by reports that their sons had committed suicide and they called CYA mental health services inadequate. Family members said that Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione, 32 miles southeast of Sacramento, had failed to watch over their children properly, dealt with relatives insensitively, and still had not explained the circumstances behind the deaths. They filed claims against the state Tuesday in preparation for a civil suit. The CYA said Tuesday that it regretted what happened to the teenagers. Spokeswoman Sarah Ludeman said that, in case the CYA staff members delivering the news to the families hadn't said they were sorry to lose the two teenagers, the department does consider the deaths a tragedy. She declined to comment on specifics of the claims but did say that since 2001, the youth authority has implemented many changes designed to improve its mental health services, such as hiring more and better-credentialed mental health staff and requiring staff members to meet weekly with wards identified as needing mental health attention. Whitfield of Los Angeles and Feaster of Stockton were not on suicide watch, Ludeman said. Preston youth authority officials found the teenagers hanging by bedsheets on a routine afternoon check Jan. 19. They cut down the sheets and called paramedics, but the boys could not be revived. Based on preliminary information, the Amador County Sheriff's Department called the cases apparent suicides. The county coroner has not declared official causes of death but has said that preliminary reports point to asphyxiation due to hanging. The coroner's office said it was still waiting for toxicology reports. |
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