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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 4 findings
F1
Page 50
When a juvenile just arrested and booked is detained at the Center, a staff member of the Probation Depart- ment must be on duty at all times because the Center is non-secure. Such staff people are called away from their regular duties or called in after hours. Occasionally offenders on weekend community service duties prove intractable and have to be incarcerated; in every such case Probation Officers have to send young people to secure facilities outside the county, far from family and friends.
F2
Page 50
By contract, weekend meals are prepared in kitchens at the Jail and Hospital. A Duty Officer must go for the meals and bring them back. The arrangement works fine, according to staff. It is reasonable to believe, however, that the arrange- ment will not work well for full-time residents in need of meals every day of the year.
F3
Page 50
Before joining the weekend work team, probationary juveniles are prescreened for lack of respect, for vio- lence and for tobacco, drug and alcohol use. Youngsters who show such destructive tendencies are started into treatment programs right away, and week- end work assignments are integrated with such treat- ment. All probationers’ performance is evaluated. Staff can reduce their sentences for good behavior or send them to secure facilities outside the county for bad.
F4
Page 51
Probationary juveniles are also diagnosed for educational deficits. These and other educational problems can be addressed in the Community School run in conjunction with the Juvenile Assessment Center. The School was commended by the 1997-98 Grand Jury. We agree with their action. Students at the school who are not juvenile offenders are children who have been expelled from county schools. In and around the classroom, while they con- tinue their education, they can be diagnosed and treated for those same patterns of lack of respect, violence and substance abuse that got them into trouble in the first place. The Community School teacher and aide do a great deal of good with barely adequate resources.
Recommendations 4
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R1Page 50Trinity County needs a secure Juvenile Detention Facil- ity. In the context of a comprehensive care program, lockdown represents the ultimate sanction. The Grand Jury recommends that this project be pushed forward with all reasonable speed.
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R2Page 50Full time, year round meal service will need to be pro- vided in the near future. A portion of the proposed Ju- venile Detention Facility might be designed for and funded to serve as a kitchen of this kind. Or the Facility could be sited in close proximity to an existing kitchen sufficient to satisfy these new needs.
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R3Page 51The Probation Department should be commended for its strenuous efforts to intervene early and forcefully in young offenders’ lives, to break the patterns of losing control and acting criminally before they become ha- bitual. Moreover, a portion of the proposed Juvenile Detention Facility should be designed for diagnosis and treatment of such social pathologies. Likewise, additional funding as necessary should be provided to intervene in the lives of Trinity County’s at-risk young people before they have a chance of becoming career criminals.
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R4Page 51A portion of the proposed Juvenile Detention Facility should be designed, equipped and funded for the educa- tional component of an integrated and comprehensive treatment program for Trinity County’s young offend- ers. CONCLUSION: The Probation Department and Juvenile Counselors are doing an outstanding job administering a comprehen- sive program of diagnosis and treatment, overseeing these juveniles and fighting recidivism. The County can make no better investment than in its at-risk children: turning them around before they can become career criminals not only saves us the tremendous costs of con- victing them and jailing them repeatedly; we also ben- efit from the contributions to be made by good citizens such as these young people can become. The progress that has been made towards a new Juvenile Detention Facility is laudable, and we encourage everyone involved to continue with all deliberate speed. 30-DAY RESPONSES REQUESTED FROM: Board of Supervisors, Trial Court Judges, Chief Probation Of- ficer. Response of the Chief Probation Officer To: Board of Supervisors From: Terry Lee, Chief Probation Officer March 29, 1999 Re: 1998/99 Grand Jury Final Report – Ju venile Assessment Center I have reviewed and considered the findings of the Grand Jury in their final report. I find that they are thoughtful and insightful in regards to the Juvenile Assessment Cen- ter. This Department continues to make every effort to ensure the safety of the community in association with the rehabilitation and punishment of juvenile criminal offenders. I concur with the findings of the Grand Jury and it is my intention to try and co-locate our facility with a department that can and will contract food and medical services to our Juvenile Hall. Every effort has been and will continue to be made to consolidate ser- vices in collaborating agencies. This department is actively seeking federal and state grant monies to build a full-time, fullJuvenile Hall. The Board of Supervisors has endorsed this project by unani- mously passing a resolution in support of building and maintaining a Juvenile Hall. You are correct in your as- sessment that present services to juveniles in Trinity County are limited by secure detention options for mi- nors. To date my department has expended in excess of $85,000.00 for secure detention beds outside Trinity County. With your continued support and a successful grant application we hope to open a full-service Juvenile Hall in Trinity County in the fall of 2001. Thank you again for your continued commitment to quality gov- ernment and support for Juvenile programs in Trinity County. Response of the Board of Supervisors Mr. Jerry Boosinger, Foreperson 1998/99 Trinity County Grand Jury P.O. Box 2455 Weaverville, CA 96093 Re: Judicial Committee Final Report Juvenile Assessment Center The Trinity County Board of Supervisors acknowledges receipt of the above referenced report and thanks the Grand Jury for its work. The Board’s response is as follows: