“I guarantee you, everyone who is working in those institutions are suffering from PTSD,” the manager said. This gives inmates the incentive to assault staff, knowing nothing will happen to them, the officers said. So while adult counterparts still faced additional time in prison, juveniles are now punished for whichever crime is the most severe - whether committed in jail or the initial crime for which they were sentenced. Newsom also signed a bill forbidding prosecutors from charging juveniles with a second violent felony while incarcerated. In 2020, state juvenile prisons had populations with 14% convicted of murder, 37% for assault, and 34% for robbery, the Associated Press reported. The closure mirrored what has been happening in adult prisons where many felonies have been downgraded and prisoners are transferred locally to serve lesser sentences.Ĭlosing prisons would “enable youth to remain in their communities and stay close to their families to support rehabilitation,” Newsom said at the time. These prisoners were transferred to less secure county juvenile jail facilities that are not designed to hold inmates charged with major crimes, the officials said. Of California’s four state juvenile prisons, which numbered 750 inmates, mostly convicted of violent felonies. Los Angeles County has about 600 inmates housed at jails called Juvenile Hall, down from three times that number over the past four years. Items include cellphones, laptops, and drugs. The situation has become so dangerous that staff members and officers have started to smuggle in contraband for inmates as a way of buying favor to avoid injury. These are 18-, 19-year-old kids who are used to fighting and a lot more durable than 40- or 50-year-old people.” He fell on a concrete floor during a restraint. “One officer recently broke his hip and had to have pins put in. “We’ve had back injuries, fractures, and broken bones,” the officer said. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has downgraded use-of-force guidelines and forbidden the use of standard nonlethal weapons such as pepper spray and Tasers while instituting a hiring freeze creating a short-staffed situation, the officials said. They declined to be named fearing repercussions. Those who don’t retire from debilitating injuries are being driven out by PTSD, both an officer and a manager said. The Los Angeles County Probation Department staffs the county’s four juvenile jails, where the number of officers has shrunk by about 700 in recent years. The Washington Examiner spoke to two veteran probation officials who described a hopeless situation where officers routinely receive catastrophic injuries yet no support from county lawmakers who want a softer approach for juvenile offenders. We have a kid who put a gun to someone’s head and splattered their brains against a wall.” “We don’t have a kid who stole a pair of jeans from JCPenney. “The only kids we have detained are the most violent, aggressive, assaultive kids who have committed the most heinous crimes against society,” oneĬounty Probation Department manager told the Washington Examiner. While politicians have been placing more juvenile offenders in the communities instead of behind bars, those left behind are the worst of the worst. Lockups have reached down to juvenile facilities where inmates learn now that they can get away with anything short of murder, officials said. LOS ANGELES PROBATION FAILED TO OVERSEE GANG MEMBER PRIOR TO POLICE MURDERSĪ series of state and local laws designed to clear I really believe someone is going to get killed at some point," one official told the Washington Examiner. "Our juvenile halls are on the verge of collapse. Imagine a jail where inmates rule over guards who fight for survival daily among killers, carjackers, and vicious gang members. It’s a world where youth convicted of violent felonies are said to control the jails, while law enforcement is helpless to stop it due to defunding and downgrades to formerly strict laws. This is the first of a four-part series looking into the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles as told by people who work there.
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