Incarcerating youth is never a celebration

After the Board of State and Community Corrections deemed LA County’s Barry J. Nidorf and Central Juvenile Halls unsuitable for the confinement of youth in May, the County’s Probation Department was given 60 days to move nearly 300 youth out of the two facilities. To our surprise, the Department met the deadline celebrating it as a “mission accomplished," but incarcerating youth is never a celebration.

The moving of 300 youth from one facility to another has already proved to be a failure in creating safer conditions. Last Friday, a gun was found inside Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall less than a week after the move to the facility, further endangering young people and putting their lives at stake. Urban Peace Institute has said it time and time again: something must change before another youth dies in the County’s care—it’s only a matter of time. The Probation Department is simply unable to meet even the bare minimum compliance requirements for keeping young people safe in their care. 

The solution is clear
Keeping young people incarcerated puts their lives at risk and we MUST free as many youth as possible, NOW. Here’s how we can do that:

1.    Decarceration: Free our young people as soon as possible

  • Daily reviews of cases for young people awaiting trial to determine pathways to be released

  • The process of reviewing and releasing youth must include community; and the multi-disciplinary team reviewing cases must have a range of expertise so that youth receive holistic support

  • Connect incarcerated and recently released youth with credible messengers and resources to build a safety net and support recovery of youth coming home

  • Create a TRANSPARENT and ACCOUNTABLE process to review and release from Secure Youth Treatment Facilities and camp

2.    Reinvestment: Divert funds from Probation

  • Cut all excess positions identified by the County’s Chief Executive Officer and reallocate those dollars to community-based services and supports

  • Allocate funding wasted on vacant/excess positions to the Department of Youth Development to build out alternative structures to Probation’s system including safe healing centers, 24-hour youth centers, credible messengers program, youth development networks, Youth Empowerment and Support teams

  • Stop incentivizing the basic duty of probation staff to show up to work with salary increases

3.    Investment: Invest in community + what we really need, urgently

  • Additional investment in decarceration pathways

  • Invest in alternative residential placements, case managers, mentors

  • Invest in credible messengers–expansion and building out current programming

  • Invest in step-down facilities for our young people adjudicated of more serious offenses

  • Invest in diversion through the Department of Youth Development (DYD)

  • Invest in the decarceration of all girls and gender expansive youth

There are currently approximately $38 million unallocated Juvenile Justice Realignment Block Grant funds with more to come in the new fiscal year and approximately $92 million unspent Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds with more to come in the new fiscal year. It’s not a matter of where the funding will come from, it’s a matter of the County deciding to take bold action to break the status quo and invest in Youth Justice Reimagined. 

Urban Peace Institute remains committed to transforming the outcomes for vulnerable youth and ensuring safety and healing for all of LA County’s young people. 

FernandoComment