Closing, and Opening, Youth Detention Centers for the Right Reasons

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Several times during my incarceration I was housed at prisons under threat of closure. As in any work place that is in danger of being shut down there was a great deal of fear on the part of staff. Often prisons are located in areas that do not have many other local jobs. Employees face not just loss of their jobs, but also forced relocation to other parts of the state. Each time this happened the genesis of the issue was a proposed budget cut to the state agency.

The De-Incarceration of California’s Juvenile Justice System

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The juvenile justice system in California has been evolving faster than most other parts of  the country.  While Missouri, Texas and other states have reduced their youth prison populations, California has made the most drastic reductions. At its peak in 1996, California housed more than 10,000 adolescents in its youth prisons. Today there are 1,096 youth held in just four facilities with one of those scheduled to close in a little more than a month. The idea of de-incarceration is not new. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the closure of Massachusetts’ youth training schools.