CYA Campus Target of New Allegations

In addition to investigating an alleged rape at the California Youth Authority’s coed Ventura School, state officials are gathering information for a hearing next week about other alleged sexual assaults and a ward’s death.

“There’s evidence that something is very bad at Ventura, throughout the system, but we’ll start with Ventura,” said Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Prison Management.

The senator, prompted by the severity of the new allegations at the state’s only coed correctional facility, made a surprise visit to the Ventura School last week--basically to question the wisdom of continuing to house males and females under the same roof.

“If you have a coed facility, there are some risks,” said Chuck Kubasek, Ventura School’s assistant superintendent. “The question is whether the risks outweigh the benefits--that’s the debate. It’s a legitimate debate and we have nothing to hide.”

The state’s prison management committee launched an investigation into the Camarillo correctional facility in May, prompted in part by revelations of an alleged rape that occurred at the facility last year.

Tuesday’s special hearing in Sacramento was originally scheduled to take testimony about the alleged rape and the rate of attempted suicides at the Ventura School.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office, however, last week announced that it will not press charges in the June 1996 alleged rape because of insufficient evidence.

But since information on these other alleged incidents has surfaced over the last couple of weeks, members of the prison management committee have decided not only to reexamine the 1996 alleged rape, but also to extend their probe even further, exploring the alleged incidents of sex between a ward and an officer, another alleged rape and even a ward’s death.

“I just don’t understand--there is definitely something wrong there,” Ayala said. “My frustration is that they won’t admit it. They think everything is fine. This hearing will reveal a lot of things and open a lot of eyes. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see there is something wrong with the system.”

But Ventura School officials maintain that incidents, such as sexual assaults, rarely happen. Over the past year, two of three claims by wards that a staff member sexually assaulted them were unsubstantiated. The third is under investigation.

And of two reports that a ward sexually assaulted another ward, one was unsubstantiated and the other situation could not be specifically categorized as a sexual assault.

When these problems do arise, Ventura School officials say, they deal with them openly and appropriately.

“I feel there is no advantage for me to suppress any grievances that come to my office,” Kubasek said. “It would weaken the credibility of myself and of the system.”

Also at the 9:30 a.m. hearing Tuesday, the committee will review the inspector general’s report that culminated a two-month investigation, discuss removing the female inmates from the facility and listen to public testimony.

Ventura School houses youths ages 13 to 25, most of whom have committed violent crimes and are incarcerated for an average of 22 months. The coed facility’s focus is on rehabilitating the youth through intensive counseling, high school, college and work programs.

Ayala has not only questioned the wisdom of Ventura School’s being a coed facility, but has also heavily criticized security and supervision at the facility in August when he discovered that of 68 attempted suicides in 1996 at the 15 facilities in the CYA system, the Ventura School accounted for 45.

However, CYA officials in Sacramento say that before 1996, the Ventura School had been reporting only the most serious suicide attempts, which resulted in three reported such cases in 1995. But in 1996, officials say, the facility began reporting all types of self-destructive behavior, including self-mutilation, when tallying attempted suicides.

Yet, in light of the recently revealed alleged incidents, Ayala says that if CYA and Ventura School officials do not tighten security and supervision, he will attempt to pass legislation that will require it.

Both CYA and Ventura School officials, however, say that security and supervision are already their first priority.

“Our No. 1 responsibility and effort is to make sure we maintain a safe and secure facility for the community, staff and wards,” Kubasek said. “Everything is regimented so that we maintain control of ward behavior and not the other way around.”

Even so, Kubasek admits there are times when problems will arise.

“These are youth offenders who have had a history of using poor judgment and of being involved in criminal activity,” Kubasek said. “They have committed a serious felony and have been convicted by the courts to the youth authority. Given those conditions, it should not surprise anyone that every once in a while, we’re going to have a problem.”

Although Kubasek said the facility runs smoothly most of the time, “through either staff negligence or a cunning ward manipulation, we’ll have a problem.

“But I dare say the problems are much fewer than the everyday activities that go on that are productive and reinforce safety and security,” he said.

Although two of the alleged incidents happened more than a year ago, families of the girl who died at the facility and of another who allegedly had sex with an officer say they had given up hope that anyone would pay attention to their side of the story--that is, until they heard about the prison management committee’s investigation.

“I want someone to help me find the truth because I can’t get it from the facility,” said Lisa Ward, whose 18-year-old daughter, Jocelyn Baker, was found dead in her cell May 3, 1996, with a plastic bag over her head, a rubber band around her neck and her hands tied to her belt.

Although the CYA’s investigation, in conjunction with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, and the Ventura County coroner’s report list Baker’s death as a suicide, her family still believes it was a homicide.

“How do you put a plastic bag over your head and a rubber band around your neck and then tie your own hands together?” Ward asked.

The coroner’s office said that although it would be difficult for one person to take all those steps, it could be done.

The manner in which Baker’s body was found, however, led Kubasek to initially believe it was a homicide as well, prompting him to call in the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

“It was only after their investigation and the coroner’s report that we saw it was not a homicide,” Kubasek said. “There was no reason for us to say it was a suicide, if it were a homicide. Why would we not pursue it and have the D.A. prosecute? That would have actually been a better scenario for us than to deal with a tragic suicide.”

But Ward says her daughter, who was only 12 units short of graduating from high school and looking forward to the college program, called her two weeks before she died and told her of a new inmate who caused her to fear for her life--the same inmate who bragged after Baker’s death that she had killed her and gotten away with it.

At that point, Kubasek says, he called back the Sheriff’s Department and staff psychiatrists to interview the inmate again.

“We don’t just let people like that walk around and make those claims,” he said. “We locked her up in the isolation unit and handled it as if we were going to prosecute, if we had enough evidence.”

Kubasek said the investigation, which lasted more than 30 days, revealed that the girl had “a history of bizarre and psychotic behavior,” but also that “there was very little truth to what the individual was saying.”