Reforms Cited Amid Scandal at Coed Jail

A top administrator at the scandal-plagued Ventura School said Wednesday that new revelations of alleged sexual misconduct between guards and inmates are not indications of an institution out of control but of one that is finally cleaning up its problems.

Assistant Supt. Chuck Kubasek said the seven new cases made public this week came about because the California Youth Authority brought in a new team of investigators to look into complaints of improper contact with inmates at the state’s only coed jail.

“Before, we didn’t have the resources to do what we had to do,” Kubasek said. “Now we do.”

Besides bringing in more investigators, Kubasek said, Ventura School administrators have imposed other key reforms, forcing all employees to undergo training on their relationships with inmates and completely separating male and female inmates at the institution.

Despite the improvements, some inmates revealed during interviews Wednesday several cases of alleged misconduct not yet reported publicly.

One inmate said her best friend had sex with an employee in 1997, and another said a friend modeled underwear for an employee last year. A third said her roommate starred in a videotape showing her kissing another inmate at the direction of a teacher.

Kubasek confirmed that all three alleged incidents had been investigated and said that two of the investigations resulted in the firing or resignation of the employees. Those two cases are not included in the seven criminal inquiries now before the Ventura County district attorney.

The Ventura School has been a center of controversy since 1997, when state lawmakers accused the CYA of covering up rapes of inmates by guards. As a result, the California Youth Authority hired eight new investigators last year to conduct independent inquiries of alleged misconduct, Kubasek said.

“Prior to 1998, most of our investigations were done by our staff here as secondary assignments,” Kubasek said. “You’d have somebody on an investigation of somebody they’d worked with for years, and it’s difficult to do a thorough investigation under those circumstances. I’d rather call an independent investigator.”

The beefed-up CYA investigative unit descended on Ventura School in April to pursue a single sexual misconduct case. That quickly snowballed into eight more inquiries, investigators said.

Last week, prosecutors charged a former teacher with having sex with two 17-year-old female inmates. Investigators have referred six more cases to the district attorney for prosecution and two more cases are still open.

“I don’t know of any cases after June of last year,” Kubasek said. “I think that people understand there will now be a very strong response by internal affairs. These investigations have had a tremendous impact on the staff’s awareness of how they perform their duties.”

Kubasek said creation of the new internal affairs team is one of three key changes at Ventura School that have gone a long way toward solving past problems involving employee sexual relations with inmates and sexual contact between male and female wards.

Relationships With Wards

A second change was to formally reemphasize to employees that they could be disciplined for any personal relationship with a ward. That point was made in June during a week of retraining involving all 400 facility employees, he said.

The third change occurred in January 1998, when the Ventura School completely separated male and female wards for the first time. The action completed a shift in philosophy prompted partly by the birth of eight babies from 1987-90 to female wards.

The alleged 1996 rape of a female inmate by a male ward in a shower accelerated the process.

This year, the CYA has received nearly $1 million to build a 16-foot fence topped with razor wire between the male and female sections of Ventura School.

“I think we’ve done a tremendous job of addressing long-standing problems by making the necessary changes,” Kubasek said.

But state Sen. Cathie Wright said the changes haven’t gone far enough, and occurred only after she and other lawmakers accused the CYA of covering up inmate rapes, employee sexual misconduct and attempted suicides.

“After all these years, now they have seven criminal cases. And why? Because they feel the hot breath on their backside,” Wright said Tuesday.

She said Ventura School still has not addressed a recent spate of complaints from female school employees of sexual harassment by male employees. She is working with the state Inspector General’s Office, which is investigating the harassment complaints and probing whether Ventura School is mismanaged. A report is due in two weeks.

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Wright on Tuesday called for the removal of all top Ventura School administrators and CYA Director Francisco Alarcon.

Alarcon declined to debate the senator, and Kubasek said Wednesday that despite Wright’s attack on his administration, he is thankful to her for helping to reform the school by providing money for more investigators and physical improvements such as the high fence to separate male and female wards.

“I want to thank Cathie Wright for getting us those investigative positions,” he said. “We’re now running very well.”

A tour of Ventura School on Wednesday revealed an orderly, spotless facility where 415 uniformed male and 317 female inmates moved silently in rows from housing units to classrooms and back again. The females’ average age is 17, and a typical male inmate is 19. Most are there for violent crimes, including murder.

Because of that, their schedules are regimented from their 6 a.m. wake-up call to bedtime at 9:30 p.m. They are usually locked in their two-bunk rooms when they are in their housing units.

They eat breakfast and dinner together, and sack lunches in their rooms.

After school lets out at 3 p.m., they are allowed to watch television together or walk in the fenced backyards of 11 housing units. After dinner, those with records of good conduct are allowed to attend meetings of clubs and religious groups or watch TV.

Despite the structured life, Kubasek said that investigations show that some teachers, counselors and guards had sexual relations with inmates at the school between 1994 and 1998.

Inmates’ Allegations

The misconduct allegedly took place in classroom bathrooms, counseling areas, private offices and the auditorium, he said.

And in interviews Wednesday, five inmates said that it is common knowledge that some employees had sex with female wards. But most also said they don’t think the problem is widespread.

“A lot of girls agree to do this stuff, messing with the staff, because they get things they can no longer receive in here,” said inmate Jane Martin, a convicted murderer from North Hollywood.

Martin mentioned a friend. “This guy would bring her bras and panties and would want to see her in them. Sometime last year he got upset and started writing bad things in her report so she couldn’t go home. So she passed a lie detector test. But he still works here, so there’s no reason to pursue it.”

Kubasek said he was aware of the allegation and that the employee was fired last month. Because the case is open, he would not discuss it further.

A second inmate, Nicole Miller, 19, said her best friend “got involved with this guy [employee]. I think it was a voluntary thing. It was something I didn’t want to talk about. I was very close to the same guy.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a part of life here, but it happens a little,” Miller said.

Kubasek said the employee who allegedly had sex with Miller’s friend was investigated; his case was referred to the district attorney in 1997, but no charges were filed. The man resigned after a new internal investigation was opened against him.

A third inmate said her friend starred in an employee’s videotape with another female ward. “I know about the videotaping of sexual things,” said Rebecca Perez, 18. “My roommate was in it and she said she was involved in this investigation.”

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Kubasek said the videotape allegations were investigated as part of a criminal inquiry against a teacher. Investigators said the claims could not be confirmed beyond the statements of the two girls involved.

“I bet we seized 100 videos out of his classroom, and we searched his home, but we never found any video that showed wards with the exception of those that were made for class,” said Robert Stresak, assistant director of internal affairs at the Youth Authority. “I’m not sure we have a myth, but we were not able to substantiate the allegations.”

Seven counselors, teachers and guards--nearly all women--said in interviews that they know of no incidents of sexual misconduct or harassment by staff members. And they said they think their reputations have been tarnished by the bad actions of a handful of colleagues.

Mary Porter, a special education teacher at the school for three years, said her only experience with a claim of misconduct was when a female inmate claimed she had been raped by a guard while in a solitary lockup.

“Later it was brought to light that he didn’t even have a key to her room,” Porter said. “So she changed her story and said she was held down by another guard. I was there in the cottage the whole time, and it never happened.”

Reading teacher Peggy Flippo, a 16-year veteran at the school, said she knows of no teacher who would put up with misconduct by a colleague. “Oh no, if anyone every found out about something like that, they would have them fired,” she said.

Flippo worked with Bradley Gardner, the 42-year-old former industrial arts teacher charged last week by prosecutors with having oral sex with two female wards between 1996 and 1998, when he was fired.

“I liked him; he was a good teacher, very creative,” she said. “He would be doing video projects all over. He set up a cable network here and we’d have a talent show broadcast to us. Now I don’t know how we’ll ever replace him.”