Anti-Recidivism Coalition

California’s Division of Juvenile Justice stopped admissions this month and now counties are developing plans to house and rehabilitate incarcerated youth.

As a July 1 date approaches to halt admissions at California's youth prison system, some say the governor’s office has not invested enough.

Under legislation moving through the California Senate, teenagers who turn 18 and would otherwise be moved to adult jails could remain in juvenile facilities – a shift described as a protective measure against the deadly spread of coronavirus.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create the county’s first Youth Commission, answering long-standing calls from youth advocates to give young people a seat at the table shaping policies and programs that impact their lives. 

It wasn’t until Akilah Shands arrived at the Central California Women’s Facility that she realized  she was going to be a mom. In 1999, Shands had been arrested for violating her parole and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Not long after he turned 19, Shaka Senghor found himself facing a bleak future. He had just entered Michigan’s state prison system after being convicted of second-degree murder. A judge had meted out a sentence of 15 to 40 years for the murder, the result of an altercation gone wrong in a neighborhood on Detroit’s East Side.

For the past nine months, advocates have been mounting a campaign to improve the living conditions of youth incarcerated in California’s juvenile halls, camps and ranches. Changes up for approval include requirements that correctional staff respect the gender identity of youth, and that incarcerated youth are granted visits from their children.

A California bill seeks to protect the rights of minors in high-pressure interrogation situations during criminal investigations. On July 25th, 1990, the course of Jerome Dixon’s life changed forever. After 25 hours of interrogation, the then 17-year-old Oakland youth would find himself sentenced to decades in prison.

With the support of a broad cross-section of juvenile justice advocates and newly minted Probation Department leadership, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal today that will create a comprehensive plan for juvenile diversion in the county.