Before Supervisors : Protests Stall Decision on Saugus Prison Site

The Board of Supervisors on Thursday postponed a decision on a controversial proposal to convert a Saugus juvenile detention camp into the state’s first privately operated adult prison.

The postponement came after the proposal drew about 75 people from the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys to the meeting. Larry Rankin, who lives in upper Bouquet Canyon near the Artesian Oaks juvenile detention camp, gave supervisors a petition bearing the signatures of almost 1,200 prison opponents.

Rankin, a retired county firefighter, told supervisors that the area already has too many state and county prison facilities. Converting a county Probation Department juvenile camp that houses 48 teen-age boys into a prison for 100 adult parole violators is “as great an injustice to the community” as constructing an additional prison in the area, he said.

Permit Issued

Supervisors scheduled the hearing after Rankin appealed a Jan. 13 decision by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission granting a private firm, Management and Training Corp. of Ogden, Utah, a conditional use permit to operate the adult prison.

After hearing residents’ concerns, Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, moved to reverse the Planning Commission’s vote. His motion died for lack of a second. Supervisors then closed the hearing and scheduled a vote on the matter for April 10.

Edward Veit, deputy director of the state Department of Corrections, said the prison would relieve crowding in the county jail system. Los Angeles County jails now house about 1,100 inmates who have been returned to custody because of parole violations, Veit said. The department has proposed that a similar facility for parole violators be established in San Mateo, he said.

Sam Hunter, Management and Training Corp.’s executive vice president, said a 10-foot fence topped with razor wire will be erected around the 15-acre prison site. Inmates will be kept at the facility for up to six months, he said.

A dozen residents of Saugus, Canyon Country and the communities of Green Valley and Leona Valley spoke against the proposal. Opponents included Tiffany Krusey, a 9-year-old who said she would be afraid to ride her bicycle if an adult prison were in the area.

“My teacher’s husband was shot and killed in his own yard by an escaped prisoner,” Tiffany said, referring to the September, 1983 slaying of Phillip Vodon, 62, a Lake Hughes resident.

The 16-year-old killer had escaped from Camp Mendenhall, a juvenile detention facility. Last June, he was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison.

Tiffany’s father, Ralph Krusey, asked that the site be left alone because youths at the juvenile camp have caused no problems for residents.

“Ninety percent of us didn’t even know what it was before now,” he said. “Many of us thought it was a church camp.”

‘From the Ground Up’

Resident Juanita Kirkpatrick said she and her neighbors are not opposed to the concept of a private firm running the prison. But she said such a facility should be “built from the ground up.”

Homeowners are prepared to fight in court if the supervisors grant the permit, Kirkpatrick said.

Jeff Rankin of Canyon Country said the site is not suitable for an adult prison because of its proximity to Bouquet Canyon Lake, weekend cabins, hiking trails, fishing sites and other national-forest recreation.

“Nobody wants a prison in their backyard,” said Judy Rankin. “It doesn’t belong in your community and it doesn’t belong in mine. And it doesn’t belong in a play area.”