Realignment Without Accountability

There is an urgent lack of services and safety in many of California’s 88 juvenile halls, camps, and ranches. This report draws on conversations with hundreds of young people, community members, attorneys, and advocates who have attended one of our 14 statewide town halls focused on conditions inside California’s juvenile facilities. Together, these stakeholders expose systemic failures in the justice system and point to concrete strategies for supporting youth before, during, and after incarceration.

In 2023, during the final months before California closed its notorious youth prisons and shifted all juvenile justice responsibilities to the counties, the California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice (CAYCJ) and the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) began convening partners to discuss how local agencies were managing the transition. Over the course of more than three years, 14 large-scale meetings, and numerous smaller discussions with those who have firsthand knowledge of the facilities, several concerning themes emerged.

Counties included in our town halls represent nearly 90% of California’s population.

Key Findings:

• Facilities subject youth to long periods of isolation and lockdowns with limited outdoor time.
• Staff vacancies have heightened safety risks in the facilities while forcing cuts to youth programming and recreation.
  
• The current grievance system is disjointed and leaves many youth fearful of speaking out.
• Programming is inadequate, with many youth spending their days in cells or watching TV.
• Probation has imposed new barriers to entering the facilities, making it difficult for community-based organizations to serve and support youth.
• Probation is failing to prepare youth for a smooth transition home, putting them at risk of returning to the system as a youth or an adult.
  

Town hall participants generated hundreds of ideas for safeguarding and supporting young people in juvenile facilities, ranging from stronger local partnerships to sweeping legal reform. We have synthesized these into a set of bold, actionable recommendations.

Recommendations:

• Hold facilities accountable by strengthening and better coordinating systems for monitoring conditions.
• Increase access to youth facilities for family members, oversight bodies, and community-based service providers.
• Allow community organizations to fill existing gaps in facility programming and reentry planning.
• Give family, community, and directly impacted young people a meaningful voice in decision-making and oversight.
• Align the minimum standards for youth facilities with best practices and current research on youth development.