San Diego County Juvenile Detention Facilities

An adequate budget line item for facility repairs would allow for timely and necessary repairs to be performed.

A budget line item for interim facility upgrades would keep the facility current until a new facility is built. Fact: There is limited time allocated for detainee physical education and recreation. Fact: No programs exist for organized events, games and books.

Additional time allowing juvenile detainees to participate in joint recreational events would benefit the juveniles’ eventual assimilation back into the community, as well as provide a learning experience of how to get along with others. Camp Barrett Juvenile Detention Facility Camp Barrett is an aging juvenile detention facility located east of San Diego. It houses high risk boys between the ages of 13 to 18. Its capacity is 125, and the population was 85 at the time of the Grand Jury’s visit. The camp has an incentive-based reward system to help the young men learn to modify their behavior. There are several programs offered to detainees at the facility. The Breaking Cycles (BC) 56-day behavior modification program, the 28-day Drug Court (DC) rehabilitation program, the BC/DC combined Phoenix House 84-day program and the Barrett 365-day program. These are multi-agency, geographically diverse programs administered by the County of San Diego Probation Department. They are designed to prevent escalating juvenile delinquency. Boys with severe mental illnesses are not housed at CBJDF; nevertheless, 25 percent are on psychotropic medications for ADHD, depression, anxiety, etc. A running club has been started at the camp with encouraging results. Several of the boys were committed to it and the challenge it represents. There also is a small garden where the boys grow their own vegetables. Education curriculum is based on the University of California’s A-G courses. Juveniles attend two meetings before release. The first is a transition meeting, which helps the juvenile reconnect into his community. The second is the pre-release meeting, which takes place just before being released back into his parents’ or guardians’ care. Camp personnel reported a recidivism rate of approximately 29 percent. Several programs exist that offer training beyond educational curriculum, including culinary arts, horticultural skills, auto repair and maintenance, and barista training classes. Because of the remote location of the camp, video conferencing visits are allowed in addition to physical visits by family. The physical condition of the offices, classrooms, and dormitories is clearly substandard and in need of major repairs. The dormitory buildings are concrete. They are outfitted with bunk beds and a common restroom area with no doors for privacy. With permission from the correctional officers, the boys are allowed to sit on the floor with other detainees for interaction, or, in rare cases, a table and chairs are brought in. The 2015/2016 Grand Jury in its annual report recommended that a long-range master plan be created to determine the feasibility and advisability of consolidating juvenile detention facilities. In July, 2016, the County requested additional time to create the plan by December 1, 2016. During its investigation, the Grand Jury learned that the plan was not available even as late as April, 2017. The Grand Jury is disappointed that the Probation Department does not acknowledge the urgent need to create the master plan to replace an unsuitable, deteriorating and aging facility. In August, 2015 Juvenile Ranch Facility (JRF) was closed and detainees were relocated to the remaining three facilities. Despite this action the overall operating costs for all facilities increased by approximately $1.6 million. The 36 correctional officers from JRF were not assigned alternative duties within the department, but were merely transferred to the remaining juvenile facilities, thereby increasing the staff to detainee ratio, see Chart 1. Furthermore, the Grand Jury learned that certain other services, such as insurance coverage, and contracted staff were based on a larger number of detainees (accurate at the time), and that contracts for these services had yet to be revised to reflect the current much lower number of detainee population. Fiscal Year 2016 Fiscal Year 2017 Actuals Jul-Jun Actuals Jul-Dec & Projected Jan-Jun All-In All-In All-In Avg. Avg. Cost Avg. All-In All-In All-In Avg. Avg. Cost Avg. Ops Cost Staff Staff- Juveniles Per Staff Per Ops Cost Staff Staff- Juveniles Per Staff Per ($ M) PO Oth. Housed Juvenile* Juvenile ($ M) PO Oth. Housed Juvenile* Juvenile KMJDF & GRF $ 26.12 197 63 170 $1 53,632 1.53 $ 28.30 199 65 167 $ 169,827 1.58 EMJDF $ 21.70 125 56 154 $1 40,740 1.18 $ 21.90 124 62 134 $ 163,070 1.39 CBJDF $ 14.50 57 37 84 $1 72,077 1.12 $ 14.30 93 38 77 $ 186,579 1.70 JRF-Campo (Closed 8/7/2015) $ 0.60 36 19 34 $ 1 9,077 1.62 $ 62.92 415 175 442 $1 42,295 1.33 $ 64.50 416 165 378 $ 170,844 1.54 *Average Cost Per Housed Juvenile Per Year assumes every juvenile spent at least 12 month. Chart 1 The Grand Jury requested the Probation Department for additional pertinent information in order to compare the overall detainee-to-staff ratio, but as of this writing the information had not been provided. Positives  Staff members that the Grand Jury observed are dedicated and upbeat.  Staff members can live on the premises outside of the facility itself and may design their own living quarters.  Detainees we spoke with were optimistic about success once released. Negatives  Remote location makes it difficult for family members to visit.  Remote location makes it difficult for probation officers to drive to and from it.  Facility is in need of major repairs. FACTS AND FINDINGS (CBJDF) Fact: Comparing Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to FY 2016, the number of juvenile facilities and the juvenile population decreased while the Probation Department staff remained the same. Fact: The staff to detainee ratio increased 15 percent from FY 2106 to FY 2017 due mainly to the transfer of the 36 officers from JRF to remaining facilities. Fact: California’s Title 15 regulations require a detainee-to-staff ratio of 10:1 during the day and 30:1 at night (The Grand Jury learned that the PREA recommended ratio is likely to be changed to 8:1 during the day and 16:1 at night in October 2017). The Grand Jury believes that the current detainee-to-staff ratio in the County exceeds PREA. However, additional information requested from the Probation Department has not been received so a meaningful comparison could not be made.

Reallocating staff elsewhere would create a more feasible ratio of detainees to staff. Fact: The Probation Department does not have a long-range plan for consolidating juvenile detention facilities. Fact: The Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) bed-rated physical capacity for San Diego’s juvenile detention facilities is 853, in contrast the FY 2017 occupancy number is 378; a 55 percent underutilization of resources. Fact: Insurance coverage and contracted staff are based on a larger number of detainees than currently in custody.

A long-range master plan would provide clarity on whether or not to further consolidate facilities and services. Fact: CBJDF is located approximately 35 miles from San Diego, in a remote Alpine area near Descanso. This creates a hardship for detainees’ relatives to visit regularly. Furthermore it adds hours of travel time to staff members’ already full and demanding day.

The remoteness of this facility makes it unsuitable for parents to participate in a juvenile’s life during incarceration. Fact: CBJDF has transferrable learning assets, such as the auto repair and maintenance shop and culinary arts class which presently serve a small population of 77 juveniles.

The auto repair and maintenance shop training is grossly underutilized in its present location. East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility The EMJDF is fairly new, built in 2004 with a rated detainee capacity of 391 for high-risk boys only, ranging in age from 13–21 years. At the time of the Grand Jury’s visit, the detainee population was 109. The facility includes an intake/booking/release area for boys and girls, but the Grand Jury was told that this portion of the facility remains unused as the vast majority of youth arrested are taken to KMJDF. Detainees each have a caseworker-probation officer who develops a case plan for them. The facility has several programs, including the Youth Offender Unit (YOU), which handles all of the highest security risk detainees and occupies two of the five pods currently in use. The Breaking Cycles program is also available and geared toward younger detainees who are unable to be placed at CBJDF. These detainees are housed in a separate unit. EMJDF is also a stepping stone for some detainees who are waiting to be transferred to CBJDF. Other programs offered are Anger Management, Chemical Dependency, Teen Relationship Violence, Education/Literacy, Personal Responsibility, and Art Therapy. There is also a robust horticultural program that includes xeriscaping, water conservation, general landscaping principles, irrigation, and climate as it relates to gardening, and harvesting different plants, vegetables and fruits. Youth are sentenced for up to one year, but time can be subtracted for achieving prescribed milestones in the correctional program. Time can also be added for infractions of jail rules, regulations and ordinances. Detainees attending school receive AB 216 diplomas, and many attend college for vocational as well as academic studies. Career Technology Education (CTE) is also provided and includes culinary, agricultural, horticultural, environmental, and drought- resistant landscaping courses. The physical condition of the facility is excellent, except for a few minor repairs, and includes a modern medical unit and a state-of-the-art kitchen. The kitchen, is underutilized since all meals are pre-prepared (cooked and then frozen) at the East Mesa Reentry Facility, and only heated up at the EMJDF. Minimal hands-on training is held in the kitchen since meals are primarily reheated, unlike at CBJDF where meals are actually prepared. Positives  Good re-entry programs  Boys’ progress is tracked for a time post-release  Facility is in excellent condition, except for a few minor repairs Negatives  Only one-third of the facility’s capacity is in use. The Grand Jury believes this to be intentional as staff and management anticipate closure of either CBJDF and/or the major renovation of KMJDF, either or both of whose detainees could be transferred to EMJDF.  Some minor repairs are needed, including a condenser in one of the refrigeration units and a few visitation cubicles that were out of order.  The kitchen could be utilized for full culinary arts training as well as on-site meal preparation. FACTS AND FINDINGS (EMJDF) Fact: A modern, on-site kitchen already exists. Fact: Culinary arts training classes have already been proven successful in helping detainees in adult detention facilities, and CBJDF, to gain useful and useable skills upon their release. Fact: As at CBJDF, the boys could “reengineer” the frozen foods to be more appealing for consumption.

Providing the means for the boys to acquire culinary art skills would primarily provide a better meal, but more importantly provide them with useable skills upon leaving the detention facility.