Probation Department Chief Testifies on His Concerns About Juvenile Hall

The administrator who has the ultimate responsibility for San Diego County’s Juvenile Hall testified Wednesday that he has many concerns about the facility because it is overcrowded.

Chief Probation Officer Cecil Steppe was called as a prosecution witness in the American Civil Liberty Union’s lawsuit against the county for crowding and bad conditions at Juvenile Hall.

Steppe said he faces myriad problems associated with Juvenile Hall: increasing numbers of gang members, rooms designed for one person that now house three, more children with more severe mental health difficulties and a lack of outside facilities to bring children back into the mainstream.

Calling crowding at Juvenile Hall a problem that has concerned him for several years, Steppe said he expects the problem to be resolved by September, when more than 400 beds will be available.

“As far as I’m concerned, that will abate very significantly the problem I’m facing,” Steppe said.

Alex Landon, the lead attorney for the ACLU, said recent surveys of the hall show there are already more than 400 young people being housed there.

Previous testimony has indicated that some children sleep on thin mattresses on the floor, there are sexual assaults, and acute mental health care is inadequate.

“My goal is not to have floor sleepers at some point,” Steppe testified.

The ACLU claims that chronic crowding at the Meadowlark Drive facility is so severe that detainees’ basic needs are not being met.

Depending on the outcome of the trial, Superior Court Judge Robert O’Neill could impose a cap on the population at the hall, or he could order special supervision of the facility.

Landon also asked Steppe about infrastructure problems at the facility, including the severe deterioration of window frames.

Holding back laughter, Steppe said the problem was caused by young detainees urinating out of windows.

“Thirty-seven years of urine, I guess, would ruin anything,” he said.

The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday, and Landon said the plaintiffs will conclude their case next Thursday.