NCJ Number
107356
Date Published
1982
Length
164 pages
Annotation
Using onsite visits and interviews this study assesses conditions at California Youth Authority (CYA) facilities and recommends ways to improve such facilities.
Abstract
Over a 4-month period in 1980, researchers spent 5 weeks at five of the eight CYA facilities, with access to every aspect of the facilities and to the residents. Interviews were also conducted with facility and CYA staff, architects involved in designing correctional facilities, public health doctors engaged in formulating standards for living conditions, and experts from other relevant fields. The history of CYA facilities reveals poor design of the juvenile correctional facilities, and State funding has been inadequate to support CYA rehabilitation programs. Meager funding has forced the design of 50-ward dormitories and the format of a large-scale rural institution that has contributed to a stressful and debilitating facility environment. Since the immediate replacement of existing facilities is financially and politically impossible, the highest priority should be to humanize the institutions by alleviating crowding, by restricting CYA commitment to serious and violent offenders, and by creating a legal entity that will oversee environmental conditions at CYA facilities. Chapter notes and appended CYA research on ward violence.