Rape Report Prompts Investigation of CYA’s Ventura School

Prompted by the alleged rape and assault last year of a 19-year-old woman, state officials are investigating problems at the California Youth Authority’s Ventura School and will hold a special hearing on the matter in late September.

A state Senate committee will take testimony at the hearing about the alleged rape and on another controversy that has surfaced as a result of the woman’s attempted suicide Sunday: Of 68 attempted suicides in 1996 at the 15 facilities in the CYA system, the Ventura School accounts for 45.

“We need to be looking at security, supervision and discipline,” said state Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Rancho Cucamonga), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Prison Management.

“They have enough staff, they just need to have more discipline,” Ayala said. “If there is any chance of any of them getting hurt, you don’t turn your backs on them.”

After the woman’s attempted suicide, Ayala sent a list of 17 questions to CYA Director Francisco Alarcon that dealt directly with Sunday’s incident, the June 1996 alleged rape and other attempted suicides.

The woman, who slit her throat with a razor, is expected to be released from the medical facility by early next week and returned to the specialized counseling program she has resided in since she was admitted in 1995.

Alarcon says the Ventura School, the only coed facility statewide, has more attempted suicides than the others because self-destructive behavior is more common with females than with males.

Girls from all over the state are placed in the Ventura School because no other CYA facilities accept females.

Those who work with the youth at the facility just outside of Camarillo agree.

“A lot of the females come into this facility after having been through serious physical, sexual and mental abuse,” said Cynthia Brown, program administrator. “The girls are more prone to hurting themselves, whereas the boys are more prone to hurting others.”

But Brown said the facility includes all types of self-destructive behavior when tallying suicide attempts, and questioned whether other CYA facilities did the same.

Julio Calderon, a spokesman for CYA headquarters in Sacramento, said Wednesday that prior to 1996 the Ventura School had been reporting only the most serious suicide attempts. The facility reported three such cases in 1995.

In 1996, however, the Ventura School began reporting all types of self-destructive behavior, including self-mutilation, when tallying attempted suicides, Calderon said. Last year, it reported 45 such incidents.

Other CYA facilities are only reporting the more serious suicide attempts, Calderon said.

Following the alleged rape, which allegedly involved a male ward attacking his victim in the shower of the medical facility, supervision at the facility has been increased and the suspected assailant has been transferred to another facility, Brown said.

It will be decided within the next 60 days whether criminal charges will be filed, according to Kevin McGee, chief assistant district attorney.

Ventura School houses youths age 13 to 25, most of whom have committed violent crimes and are incarcerated for an average of 22 months. The facility has an intensive counseling program, as well as high school, college and work programs.

It was initially a female-only facility, but eventually began accepting males because it was not financially feasible to house only women. As of April, there were 381 males and 311 females in the main facility and an additional 93 males in a work camp program.

Ayala says problems could be avoided at the facility if the female population were moved to a separate institution. He plans to introduce legislation in the fall suggesting officials look into the possibility of a privately run, female-only CYA in Southern California.

Although Brown says a coed environment best prepares the youth for situations they will encounter on the outside, Alarcon acknowledges its potential downfalls.

“No matter how much counseling they receive and how much you separate them in programming, there is still that chemistry you have to worry about,” he said.