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| Judge: Keep sending kids to youth prison |
| By Contra Costa Times |
| Published: 03/22/2004 |
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Contra Costa County will continue sending young offenders to the California Youth Authority despite a call for a moratorium on commitments after a report found deplorable conditions at the state detention facilities. ``We are not doing a moratorium,'' said Judge Lois Haight, supervising judge of Contra Costa Superior Court. County Public Defender David Coleman asked Haight in a letter dated March 5 to consider the action after an investigation by an outside panel revealed abuses at the Youth Authority, a collection of state facilities that house some of the most serious juvenile offenders. The panel found that prison employees used Mace, drugs and wire mesh to control their charges. ``We urge the Contra Costa County Superior Court,'' Coleman wrote, ``to join with other Northern California counties in refraining from committing wards to the Youth Authority until changes are made and the Court is convinced that wards from this county, too, will be safe.'' While declining to support a moratorium, Haight did say she was very concerned with the situation. She said she asked probation officers last week to visit each ward from Contra Costa County who is held at the facilities. Haight said she would visit the Preston Youth Center in Ione and the Northern Youth Correctional Center in Stockton. If any mistreatment is found, then the court would consider a moratorium, she said. But she said she did not believe such a move would be necessary. At least one other Bay Area county, Santa Clara County, has declared a moratorium on Youth Authority commitments until changes are made. Alameda and San Francisco counties are considering a moratorium. |
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