Cracked Wall Adds to Woes at Aging Juvenile Hall

Adding to fears that the county’s juvenile hall may not last until a new one can be built, a crack has appeared in the decrepit institution that is forcing jail officials to alter the daily routines of young inmates.

The head of Clifton Tatum Center on Hillmont Drive said it could cost more than $100,000 to repair the fast-growing crack in the building’s 8-inch thick concrete wall.

Worse yet, the structural problem will force already overworked staff members to take inmates to showers in shifts.

Structural engineers have determined the juvenile jail is safe, but the latest building problem leaves probation officers wondering how much longer they can survive without a new juvenile justice complex.

“We’ve got to do horrendously expensive repairs on a building we should be dynamiting,” said Chris Weidenheimer, who heads the center. “But we don’t have a new place yet. We’ve got to do this because this is all we have to live in.”

Cal Remington, the head of Ventura County’s Probation Agency added: “This building is so old that it is going to continue to give us problems until we can replace it.”

Weidenheimer said a small crack appeared in the concrete wall last Monday. By Tuesday it had split 5 feet down to the floor.

“When an 8-inch concrete wall does that, something is moving,” she said.

In a memo to the probation chief, Weidenheimer said the water heater in the building is broken. That in turn has caused water to pour into a broken catch basin, “so the water is running into the soil and undermining the building.”

Repairs have begun, but the problem could take days or weeks to fix.

Until then, some inmates have no hot water. Showers are being staggered throughout the day. When the hot water runs out, showers are stopped until after school.

The creeping crack is the largest and newest problem at the county’s outdated juvenile facility.

Built in 1965 to hold 84 delinquents, the facility has not grown since, though the county population has almost tripled. Today, as many as 140 are held at the facility at one time.

A 1997 inspection by the state Board of Corrections recommended that the county tear the building down.

“In general we found your facility to be antiquated, and inadequate from a physical plant standpoint and in need of replacement,” the report concluded.

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The space crunch and the overflow at the county’s three other juvenile facilities recently prompted county supervisors to approve a $1.2-million conversion of an adult work furlough building at Camarillo Airport into a 40-bed youth facility.

But the probation agency chief said the move will only be a Band-Aid fix for a system strained to the breaking point.

Space is so tight at juvenile hall that probation officers have to juggle everyone, sometimes locking inmates into their 8-by-8-foot cells to clean up after meals.

Probation head Remington expressed frustration that he can do so little.

The building violates numerous state codes, but the county cannot substantially remodel the facility or it will be forced to abide by new regulations enacted since it was built.

That would cost so much money, Remington said, it is better to tear it down and build a new facility.

Assistant Public Defender Jean Farley, who supervises attorneys dealing with juvenile offenders, expressed frustration that despite worsening problems, nothing is being done.

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“We know that that building has problems,” she said. “We know that portions of the walls flake off. . . . What is it going to take? Is something horrible going to have to happen there before we recognize that fact?”

She said the county can either build a juvenile justice complex so they can legally confine minors, or let them go.

In coming weeks the county will release a report detailing the needs of the juvenile justice system.

Remington said the report will call for a juvenile justice complex with more than 300 new beds, courtrooms, office space and mental-health and other facilities.

But Remington estimates the facility could cost $55 million to $60 million and be as many as 10 years down the line.