County to Start Early Release of Delinquents

Scores of teenage delinquents will be released from custody months before their sentences run out because of chronic crowding at Juvenile Hall, probation officials told Ventura County supervisors Thursday.

Offenders at Colston Youth Center will be sent home 60 days early so that other inmates can move from Juvenile Hall to the mid-Ventura school and rehabilitation center.

The early release program, which takes effect July 15, is the latest attempt to reduce the number of minors at Ventura County Juvenile Hall, many of whom are waiting for space at Colston.

“Some people in the community may be concerned about it, but [the juveniles] would be out in two months anyway,” said Carol Hurtt, the Colston administrator. “This is a much better way to try and ensure the protection of the community.”

Minors in custody at Colston and Juvenile Hall have been arrested or convicted of crimes ranging from thefts to violent assaults and shootings. Many of them swear gang allegiance, and fights break out on a near-daily basis, workers say.

Juveniles now wait five or six weeks in Juvenile Hall for a spot at Colston. The early release program will cut that wait to less than a week, officials said.

Probation officials offered several reasons for the escalating numbers of youths who are locked up at Juvenile Hall.

For starters, Ventura County’s population continues to rise, up nearly 7% in the past five years. But the growing number of children does not account for the full magnitude of the increase.

Between 1983 and 1993, for example, overall juvenile arrests rose more than 35%, and arrests of young people for weapons possession rose more than 260%, records show.

“Kids are committing more and more violent crimes,” said Chris Weidenheimer, who oversees home supervision programs. “They have less respect for themselves and other people. Many of them figure they won’t live through their 20s.”

County probation officers now supervise more than 1,700 children.

By letting Colston offenders go early, more space will become available at Juvenile Hall, and that facility will become less crowded and less prone to violence, officials said.

“We’re trying to do everything we can on a short-term basis to deal with the crisis here,” said Van Millan, a supervising deputy probation officer.

Once released, the young offenders will be strictly monitored to make sure that they abide by the terms of their probation, Hurtt said. Random telephone checks and surprise probation visits up to five days a week await those released early, she said.

Some will even be monitored electronically, with ankle bracelets alerting authorities whenever they stray too far from home. “This is heavy, heavy supervision,” Hurtt said. “We’re absolutely going to keep tabs on them.”

Weidenheimer said she expects the number of children in her home supervision program to double almost overnight, and she worries that the department will no longer screen children before they are released early.

“The 60-day community commitment will simply be part of their program regardless of what they did to get in there or how they responded to therapy while they were inside,” she said.

“You never know; you can think a kid is not a significant risk to the community, then they go out and do something horrendous,” she said.

The Colston Youth Center, located off Loma Vista Road in midtown Ventura, treats juveniles who have been convicted of crimes. They receive schooling and counseling during their stays, which average five or six months.

The center has room for 45 minors but always has a waiting list, even though administrators release up to 150 delinquents a year.

Children waiting for a spot at Colston are housed at Juvenile Hall, a decades-old complex next door designed for 84 beds. But that facility typically houses 130 or more juveniles at any given time.

“We’ve been overcrowded for years,” Millan said. “We double-bunk. We put more mattresses in the rooms. It taxes our resources.”

Population averages more than doubled at Juvenile Hall between 1985 and 1995, Millan said, with the center averaging 119 inmates at one point last year.

“The average daily population is above that as we speak,” he said.

Frank Woodson, the county’s probation chief, said his department would add three beds to the Colston Youth Center specifically for delinquents who violate terms of their early release.

What’s more, the department plans to hire four new probation officers to help with the ongoing supervision of the young offenders.

“They will be getting contacts almost every day or every other day by our staff,” Woodson said. “We will be going to their schools and working with their parents to try to minimize [any problems].”

Those who work to put juvenile delinquents behind bars say they do not welcome the early releases. But in Ventura County, they see little choice.

“In principle, we’re not happy about it,” said Kevin J. McGee, chief deputy district attorney. “But we certainly understand. The situation locally is getting very serious.”

Simi Valley Police Lt. Dick Thomas, who supervises that city’s gang suppression efforts, also said he recognizes the need to relieve crowding at Juvenile Hall, even if it means turning some violent offenders loose.

“I’m not really pleased to hear this, but my initial reaction is that it’s not that big a deal,” he said.

“The fact that an offender does 10 months as opposed to 12, I don’t see that as a major threat to the community,” Thomas said. “If he’s going to re-offend after 10 months, he probably would re-offend after 12 months, too.”

Supervisor John K. Flynn said the early release program sounds promising.

“I don’t think there will be any problem if we follow up on them and monitor them electronically,” said Flynn, who offered to put one young offender to work part-time in his office.

“I’d like to see more of that kind of stuff.”

Besides launching the early release program, probation officials are investigating several other alternatives to relieve crowding at Juvenile Hall.

Woodson said he plans to take advantage of a boot-camp program deep in Los Padres National Forest by the summer of 1997. But that project, run by Santa Barbara County, will only have room for 20 Ventura County juveniles.

Woodson is also counting on a November ballot initiative that would ask California voters to approve up to $200 million for juvenile detention facilities around the state.

Even though the measure has not yet qualified for the ballot, Woodson plans to hire an architect to design a new juvenile center so that Ventura County is poised to take advantage of the money.

“We hope to get a piece of that,” he said.

Times staff writer Carlos V. Lozano contributed to this story.