History : What Are We Fighting For? : Victories : Decision Making
YOUTHJUSTICECOALITION
The following gains were made through YJC organizing campaigns:
Conditions of Confinement
(1) The County Department of Probation announced in September, 2002 that it would transfer all youth being tried as adults from juvenile halls into County Jails -- (approximately 300 youth a day would have been housed in County Jail, on lock down 23 to 24 hours a day with little access to education, mental health and other services. YJC members who were currently or formerly detained at the halls along with a network of clergy leaders from across LA County mobilized to stop the transfer. For a year, the YJC youth organizers and members detained in the halls engaged in monthly meetings with Probation; wrote hundreds of letters to the Probation Chief, Board of Supervisors and Sheriff to highlight their experiences in lock-up; collected over 3,500 signatures on a petition; surveyed families on conditions and concerns while they were visiting their children at the halls and County Jail; held a major press conference and rally at Men’s Central Jail; and testified before the Board of Supervisors. In July, 2003, the Board of Supervisors voted to transfer all remaining youth detained at County Jail back to a juvenile facility, and to close the juvenile module at County Jail. The YJC has had monthly meetings with Probation to monitor the transfer. In December, the YJC marched fifty miles across L.A. County to both celebrate this victory and to highlight additional campaign demands including legislation to block future lock-up of youth in adult facilities. During the march, YJC members held several press events, met with elected officials and community residents to raise our platform for changes in juvenile justice policy. The YJC is now working with State Senator Gloria Romero’s office to write and introduce this legislation.
(2) The YJC’s juvenile hall chapters coordinated a campaign to improve conditions and services in LA County juvenile halls. The following changes have been made:
- Regarding long delays in medical transfers between camps and the halls, Probation agreed that we could work with the medical staff to address these issues.
- Probation agreed to follow its own procedures – youth who are pepper sprayed must get a shower and see a nurse within 15 minutes of being sprayed. (YJC members raised concerns that they often waited hours before getting any attention.)
- Regarding the housing of "high-risk offenders," (HROs), Probation agreed to allow a YJC planning process to engage currently and formerly detained youth, community-based programs and Probation staff to design a unit that could showcase alternative detention strategies.
- Probation has monitored YJC concerns regarding cleanliness of the sleeping units, and significant changes have been made.
- Tightened security had blocked youth from getting all personals (soaps, shampoos, lotions), and rashes and break-outs were common due to the poor quality of county-issue products. Personals were allowed back into Sylmar (BJNJH) and Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. We are working to get personals back into Central. In addition, Probation changed from a cheap gel deodorant to roll-ons and changed to a better quality shampoo.
- Regarding discipline issues, Probation agreed that the YJC could establish a committee made up of staff and detained youth to look at the grievance procedure and to improve positive recognition as an alternative to the punitive discipline policy. Youth detained at the halls have completed a process to provide initial recommendations to Bureau Chief Smythe. Probation also agreed to look at youth complaints on the overuse of pepper spray, and use has been reduced by 27% or more at all three halls. (Los Padrinos reduced pepper spray use by 80%) Finally, Probation has implemented the YJC’s recommendation for a secure grievance procedure. Locked grievance boxes have been placed in each unit and school in order to guard against staff discarding of grievances or punishing youth who raise complaints. And the YJC’s push for additional Ombudsmen has resulted in Grievance Coordinators for each hall. The YJC still needs to push for an independent review panel (outside of Probation) to monitor the Ombudsman’s and Grievance Coordinators’ work.
- In September, 2002 youth at the YJC’s Central Juvenile Hall chapters presented the educational platform at a meeting with all the teachers, administrators and Probation staff in the boys school at Central Juvenile Hall. They agreed to have the Site Based Council review the recommendations and meet again with the young people. However, despite numerous requests, no such meeting ever occurred. Young people delivered over 30 personal letters to Dr. McCoy, the school principal. Two weeks later, when the YJC asked for a response, Dr. McCoy said he had forwarded the letters to Denise Miranda for review. To date, we have not heard a response from the Central Juvenile Hall school. So, we took our concerns to Probation. Probation has agreed to both write a letter of support backing all of our demands and to accompany us to a meeting with the County Office of Education which we are now in the process of scheduling.
(3) Four YJC chapters ( 2 at Central Juvenile Hall; 1 at Los Padrinos and 1 at Barry J Nidorf) met weekly to develop and lead this campaign. Between sixty and 100 youth a week worked on this effort, in addition to attending leadership training and legal education workshops.
Changing Police Tactics in Regards to Gang Profiling and Suppression
YJC members have co-sponsored several police-youth forums, and high-jacked the process in other forums in order to challenge LA’s declared "War on Gangs." The YJC has begun to meet with police and sheriffs’ departments to pilot the YJC’s gang database diversion process. The process will provide youth with notification if they are at risk of being put on the database or if they are already on; an opportunity to raise their objections to being labeled as gang members, and to influence the decision; and – if they are added to a database -- a way to remove themselves through successfully completing 8 life skills workshops and/or a community conference to address and conflict or alleged crime that may have occurred. This process has the potential for diverting thousands of LA County youth each year from the gang databases.
The YJC also developed a short play to illustrate the gang databases, gang suppression tactics and their impact of youth lives. The play was performed for Agosto Boal (Theater of the Oppressed and Legislative Theater) and an audience of 300. City Councilman Martin Ludlow pledged at that meeting that he would push the YJC recommendations forward. He recently reiterated that promise at a national event looking at the community impacts of post 9/11 policies. And we have had two follow-up meetings with his staff to move these policies forward.
The YJC has also met with the Democratic Party to put forward our platform for the upcoming District Attorney’s race. The most known Democratic Party candidate – Nick Pacheco – has agreed to all our demands regarding gang profiling and alternatives to detention and incarceration. The League of Women Voters has agreed work with us to cosponsor a candidates debate (involving all 4 Democratic Party and 2 Republican Party candidates) for District Attorney.
The YJC administered a county-wide Gang Profiling Working Group made up of inactive and former gang members, gang outreach and intervention organizations, civil rights attorneys and advocates to develop and lead this campaign. Twenty YJC coalition members are currently active on this committee which meets at least once a month.
The YJC has also suffered several defeats.
(A) Probation rejected YJC male members’ appeal to have access to their own underwear or to get boxers while detained in juvenile halls.
(B)Probation said that they would not consider any special unit with GBTQ staff for GBTQ youth, and said that GBTQ youth are "not in danger except when they provoke problems due to their behavior in the units."
(C)The YJC’s effort to mobilize 18th Street members to challenge a gang injunction was also unsuccessful when one challenger left LA for another state in order to escape the constant police surveillance he was under. Eventually, three other YJC members left the injunction area – one for another country – because they felt challenging the case was hopeless, and because they felt they could no longer endure stresses in the neighborhood.