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| Youth prisons fail to meet reform goals |
| By San Jose Mercury News |
| Published: 01/10/2005 |
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Hundreds of inmates in the California Youth Authority are still being locked down in their cells for 23 hours on any given day, despite the new director's earlier assurances that he had eliminated the practice last year, according to state auditors who heaped fresh criticism Monday on the state's troubled juvenile prison system. The findings by state Inspector General Matthew Cate are among the first serious criticisms leveled at efforts by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration to fix a system that is widely agreed to be in need of wholesale reform. And, while citing some improvement in other areas, Cate also said the Youth Authority is still failing to provide adequate education and counseling for many wards. His report, which echoes many findings of a recent Mercury News series, comes just days before the administration is scheduled to unveil plans for a significant overhaul. Changes are expected to include merging some administrative functions of the Youth Authority with the state's adult prison system. Responding to the report, Youth Authority director Walter Allen III said staffing shortages have made it difficult to eliminate the ``23-1'' lockdowns and that he had only a certain program in mind when he made his earlier assurance. Allen told state legislators and other officials last summer that he had ended the controversial practice of locking some inmates in their cells for 23 hours a day. But Cate said his auditors visited Youth Authority facilities in recent months and still found almost 10 percent of wards were getting out of their cells for only one hour of exercise or other activities each day. Officials say many of the wards are held under those conditions for only one or two days at a time, although auditors found 39 wards at one facility were held on lockdown for more than 30 days. The percentage of wards on ``23-1'' lockdown is lower than in previous years, and Allen reiterated Monday that he is working to solve staffing shortages that make it difficult to bring all wards out of their cells more often. But the inspector general blamed ``a lack of clear direction and resources from department headquarters.'' His report prompted a leading legislative critic to question whether the Youth Authority is capable of reforming itself. Allen did not dispute most of the criticism in the 250-page report by the inspector general, who serves as the state's official watchdog for youth and adult prisons. In a conference call with reporters, Allen said the report was ``comprehensive'' and confirms his belief that the Youth Authority ``is an outdated system in crisis, one that needs a major overhaul.'' But the director also stressed that he has replaced virtually all of the agency's top managers over the past year. The Youth Authority houses about 3,700 juvenile offenders from around the state. While the majority are between the ages of 18 and 25, they were sentenced for crimes they committed before they became adults. |
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