Removal of Female Inmates From Coed Jail Urged

After a day of testimony about a suicide and alleged rapes, a top state legislator called Tuesday for the removal of female inmates from the California Youth Authority’s Ventura School, the only coed juvenile correctional facility in the state.

State Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-Chino) accused CYA officials at a special hearing in Sacramento of lax supervision and security and of covering up the details of several alleged incidents, including rapes, sex between a ward and an officer, and even a ward’s death.

The legislative investigation into alleged sexual attacks on female inmates erupted in anger when CYA officials refused to answer questions on grounds of confidentiality.

“There is something deadly wrong in the Department of the Youth Authority,” Ayala told CYA Director Francisco J. Alarcon. “There is something deadly wrong that should be corrected and corrected now.”

Ayala, chairman of the Select Senate Committee on Prison Management, assailed Alarcon and other CYA officials in particular for repeatedly refusing to answer questions about allegations of at least two rapes at the Camarillo prison for young offenders.

“They need to correct this situation and segregate the girls from the boys. When they tell me it’s going to be expensive, I don’t disagree. But what’s the alternative? More of the same?” Ayala said after the hearing.

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

Inspector General Lloyd Wood, who is expected to release a report later this month, said his review of the CYA investigation into the alleged rape revealed many shortcomings, including “difficulty in the preservation and processing of evidence.”

Ventura School houses offenders 13 to 25 years old, most of whom have committed violent crimes and are incarcerated for an average of 22 months. The coed facility focuses on rehabilitating the youths through intensive counseling, high school, college and work programs.

Ayala, who has paid two surprise visits to the Ventura School, said he is troubled by reports of sexual attacks and alleged failure to swiftly punish the perpetrators.

Alarcon and his immediate superior, acting Secretary Thomas Maddock of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, announced at the outset of the hearing that state employees would not discuss specific cases of alleged crimes.

To do so at a public hearing, they said, could violate confidentiality restrictions and compromise a criminal investigation by the Ventura County district attorney’s office, a separate civil lawsuit and a state administrative personnel hearing.

Ayala at first seemed agreeable but later in the hearing charged that the officials were invoking the “cloud” of confidentiality to thwart the committee’s investigation.

Among other things, the committee wanted to know how officials handled the investigation of a Ventura security officer who allegedly raped a 17-year-old inmate during the spring of 1996. They apparently did not launch a full-scale investigation until January 1997.

Separately, Carlee Barnes, a nurse’s aide who worked for the CYA for 22 years, claimed she was abruptly fired last June, one year after she reported the 1996 rape in a shower room of a female inmate by a male prisoner. In written testimony, she indicated the firing was in retaliation for reporting the crime.

“You don’t seem to care,” Ayala told Alarcon.

“I resent that,” Alarcon snapped back.

“I hope you do,” Ayala countered. “I want to make you angry so you will do something about it. Is that clear? You are doing a poor job from what I see.”

The CYA officials, guided by their attorney, refused to discuss the specific cases of alleged crimes but told the committee they would answer questions in private.

Maddock handed the committee a letter dated Oct. 6 from Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury, in which the prosecutor said he is investigating the alleged rape of the 17-year-old. He said public discussion of the incident could compromise his investigation.

Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) said she found it puzzling that the alleged rape occurred about 18 months ago, but Bradbury’s letter was sent only the day before the hearing.

A woman who identified herself as the mother of the alleged victim also testified at the hearing. In an agreement with Ayala, she did not disclose her name but made no effort to conceal her face.

The woman said she did not learn of the alleged attack until after her daughter was paroled in January. She testified that her attempts to obtain details were rejected by officials at Ventura School.

However, Scott Cantino, a CYA internal affairs investigator, testified that when he received the case last September, he had numerous telephone conversations and meetings with both the victim and her mother. Specifics of the conversations were not divulged.

Some members of the committee, including Wright, indicated that the testimony of the mother was persuasive and that CYA officials had failed to promptly investigate the incident.

Alarcon protested that the committee was hearing only one side of the issue and that the CYA was handicapped by confidentiality restrictions.

But Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), a former prosecutor, charged that the officials could answer committee members’ questions that dealt with legitimate legislative oversight without jeopardizing any of the pending legal cases.

To do otherwise, he said, would “give a very strong perception that there are problems that are being . . . shielded from scrutiny.”

The mother of an 18-year-old girl who was found dead in her cell May 3, 1996 also testified.

Lisa Ward has repeatedly questioned the coroner’s ruling that her daughter’s death was a suicide. The girl was found with a plastic bag over her head, a rubber band around her neck, and her hands tied to her belt.

“I’m not here to decide whether this was a suicide or a homicide,” Ward told the committee through tears. “I’m here to tell you that nobody checked in on that child and that nobody was doing their job.”

After the hearing, Ward said she wants to see Ventura School officials held accountable.

“Politics is not the issue here--the safety of our children is,” Ward said. She added, “I feel so much better, because somebody finally listened.”

Ayala indicated the committee would look into her daughter’s death further.

“The next step with all of this is to sit down with the director and work things out,” Ayala said.

Ventura School was a female-only facility when it opened at its original location off Highway 33 in 1914 and remained as such when relocated to its Camarillo site in 1962.

It was not until 1970 that males were admitted--the number of female inmates had dropped and it was not financially feasible to continue to house only girls and women, CYA officials said.

Last month, there were 297 females and 466 males in the Ventura School, an excess of two females and 85 males over design capacity.

CYA officials have explored the possibility of relocating the female population--Castle Air Force Base was considered three years ago, and Camarillo State Hospital last year--but to no avail.

“My goal is to get beyond these personal attacks and innuendoes that occurred at the hearing and deal with the real issues,” Alarcon said. “I think we have some common concerns.

“I’ve been a longtime advocate of finding some means to separate the females from the males and am still interested in doing so,” he said.

Until there is a cost-effective way to move the females to a separate facility, Alarcon plans to find ways to at least minimize concerns.

“I’m going to look into constructing a fence that would divide the current campus into two institutions,” Alarcon said. “But, once again, this has not been budgeted in.”

Alarcon said he is also going to look into having the males and females attend classes at separate times. Currently, this is the only time when they are in the same areas.

“I’m looking at how we can run the schools in such as way to run two different schedules . . . and have the resources to do that where it doesn’t require us to ask for more dollars.”

Alarcon said he plans to introduce scheduling changes along with a proposal to adjust treatment needs in next year’s budget after the first of the year.

Ingram is a Times staff writer, and Hobbs is a correspondent.