Governor Removes Alarcon as CYA Chief

Embroiled in controversy over scandals at the Ventura School juvenile prison, the director of the California Youth Authority was removed Wednesday by Gov. Gray Davis.

“It’s about time,” said state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who called for Francisco Alarcon’s removal a month ago amid new charges of sexual misconduct at the coed facility near Camarillo.

“He was in the system long enough to know what was going on out there,” said Wright, in whose district the youth prison is located. “And when he took over in 1995, he did nothing to change it, so things just deteriorated further.”

In replacing Alarcon, the governor was fully aware of findings of mismanagement and sexual misbehavior at Ventura School, a spokesman said.

“It was something he couldn’t ignore, that’s for sure,” Davis spokesman Michael Bustamante said. “There’s a history here, and there are a number of questions that have been raised over a long period of time. The governor felt comfortable in replacing Mr. Alarcon.

“But it wasn’t just one thing; it was a number of things,” Bustamante said. “The overriding factor was the governor wanted new people to take a new approach to produce positive results.”

Alarcon, 48, a top Youth Authority administrator under two Republican governors, could not be reached for comment.

He was removed by the new Democratic governor Wednesday morning after meeting with Robert Presley, newly appointed secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency.

Presley’s spokeswoman said Alarcon’s removal was an inevitable change because of the shift in political power in Sacramento, and not related to problems at Ventura School.

“The governor has been interviewing staff for top correctional positions for a period of time, and this [appointment] would have happened regardless,” Presley spokeswoman Lisa Beutler said. “The governor was going to select his correctional team, and he did today.”

Davis did, however, reappoint Clarence A. Terhune, an appointee of former Gov. Pete Wilson, as director of the Department of Corrections. The new Youth Authority director is Gregori S. Zermeno, 52, a veteran CYA prison superintendent.

In a meeting shortly after his appointment, Zermeno said he would make completion of two parallel criminal and civil investigations at Ventura School a top priority, Beutler said.

“He wants these investigations completed and appropriate actions taken quickly,” she said.

The top three administrators at the scandal-plagued school were suspended last week after the state inspector general found a two-decade-long pattern of mismanagement and sexual misconduct at the facility.

The report found “a systemic problem” of lax management that minimized sexual misconduct by employees and inmates, and resulted in unfair treatment and sexual harassment of women employees.

“We still need to review the inspector general’s records,” Beutler said. “His investigators are physically down in Ventura right now. So we haven’t been able to get together.”

Once that meeting occurs within the next few days, Beutler said, Presley will make a decision on the futures of suspended school Supt. Mary Herrera, Assistant Supt. Chuck Kubasek and security chief James J. McDuffy. They remain on paid administrative leave.

As a longtime Youth Authority employee, Alarcon is eligible to take another manager’s position within state government, CYA spokesman J. P. Tremblay said.

“He’s been in this department since the early 1980s, and he’s been in state service for over 30 years,” Tremblay said. “So he could go to a manager’s position. But I don’t know what he’s going to do.”

Alarcon has drawn fire, particularly from Wright, for failing to respond promptly to problems at Ventura School. Even after lawmakers demanded reform two years ago, Alarcon denied problems until internal investigations last year turned up 64 complaints of misconduct.

In an interview last month, Alarcon maintained that Ventura School has been cleaned up and is now doing a good job of educating young criminals.

“You’ve got to look at the total picture,” he said. “And there are some other signs that a lot of good things are occurring at that facility.”

Ventura School has been a center of controversy since 1997, when Wright and other state lawmakers accused the Youth Authority of covering up inmate rapes by guards. Three officers were later fired or forced out.

The current turmoil has prompted parallel investigations--the inspector general’s investigation and a separate internal look into possible criminal sexual misconduct by employees.

A former Ventura School teacher was charged in January with having oral sex with two 17-year-old inmates. And Youth Authority investigators say criminal cases against seven other past and present employees have been sent to local prosecutors.

Nine school employees have been fired or forced out since April, authorities said.

The Ventura School is the only coed facility among 15 run by the Youth Authority. It houses 415 male wards and 317 female wards between the ages of 13 and 25. Most were imprisoned for violent crimes.

* CHIEF RETAINED: Gov. Gray Davis is keeping Cal Terhune as director of the state Department of Corrections. A3