Reform Is Overdue

For a young woman, no matter how long her criminal rap sheet, a sentence to a California Youth Authority juvenile prison is punishment enough without the addition of sexual humiliation at the hands of staff members.

We welcome the belated investigation that last week revealed seven cases of alleged sexual misconduct at the Youth Authority’s Ventura School in Camarillo. The Youth Authority must aggressively move to rid the system of employees who abuse their power in this manner, and to fix the management policies that have allowed such predatory activity to occur.

The young wards of the state, the taxpayers who pay the bills and the vast majority of the Youth Authority staff who honorably carry out a difficult and often dangerous job deserve no less.

Credit for this overdue attention to a long-festering problem belongs to state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley). It was Wright who took seriously complaints about inmate rapes by guards, and who in 1997 with then-Sen. Ruben Ayala (D-Chino) led state lawmakers in accusing the Youth Authority management of ignoring and covering up those incidents. Three officers were later fired or resigned.

And it was Wright who prompted corrections authorities to find money to build a 16-foot-tall fence to separate male and female wards at the state’s only coed prison and to hire independent investigators to check out the complaints.

Last year, the Youth Authority hired eight such investigators. Last week, prosecutors charged a former teacher with having oral sex with two 17-year-old female inmates. Investigators have referred six other cases to the district attorney for prosecution; two more cases remain open.

Youth Authority officials point to three steps they are taking to end the sex scandals at Ventura School:

First, an internal affairs team has been created to investigate such complaints. Apart from the criminal prosecutions, the Youth Authority has fired four Ventura School employees, forced the resignation of three others who faced discipline, and required another to take a disability leave.

Second, all 400 employees have been formally reminded that they could be disciplined for any personal relationship with a ward.

Third, a year ago the Ventura School completely separated male and female wards for the first time, completing a shift in philosophy prompted by the birth of eight babies from 1987-90 to female wards and by the alleged 1996 rape of a female inmate by a male inmate.

These steps, they say, will put an end to sex-related problems.

Sen. Wright doesn’t buy it, and we share her skepticism. It took intense pressure from legislators and the press to make Youth Authority leadership begin to pay serious attention to complaints of sexual abuses. Even now that outside scrutiny has prompted them to start taking steps in the right direction, Youth Authority management still has not addressed ongoing complaints from female employees of sexual harassment by male employees and retaliation against women who protest.

The Times applauds the progress the California Youth Authority has made toward turning Ventura School into a facility where the only insult or injury meted out is the sentence ordered by the courts. We encourage further efforts to weed out employees who sink to taking advantage of their captive charges. We demand tighter controls to ensure that the unsavory abuses do not creep back into life at Ventura School after the spotlight of public scrutiny shifts to some other target.

Can the current leadership achieve this?

Sen. Wright doubts it. She insists they have had to be prodded every step of the way. She has demanded the removal of top school administrators and Youth Authority Director Francisco Alarcon. 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 expected within two weeks.

Based on those findings, even bigger changes may be ahead for Ventura School and the California Youth Authority. The good behavior now on display must not lapse when the crisis passes. To ensure that it doesn’t, Sen. Wright will be watching closely--and so will we.