Keep Youth Camp Open

The Los Pinos Conservation Camp is tucked away in the Cleveland National Forest off Ortega Highway. The secluded setting has proved beneficial to juvenile offenders for nearly 30 years.

The federal government, which owns the 59 acres used by Orange County, last weekend held its first public hearing as it considers what to do with the property after the county’s lease expires next year.

The best answer so far: Leave it alone.

Orange County officials have done the right thing in lobbying the Forest Service to allow the continued use of Los Pinos as a detention facility. The county took over the property in 1970 and says it has invested about $8 million to improve it. In the mid-1980s, the dormitories housed about 50 teens at a time. Now the number has more than doubled, to 125.

Los Pinos provides a dramatic change of scene for most who are sent there. Inmates, who range in age from 16 to 18, receive heavy doses of education and sports among the towering trees of the forest, far from the concrete pavements of home. The young men also work, maintaining trails, fixing campgrounds and clearing brush, so the Forest Service benefits as well.

Juveniles sent to Los Pinos generally have been in trouble with the law two or three times previously, but usually for nonviolent offenses such as burglary or auto theft. Camp officials say about 75% of the graduates have no new violations within the first six months after their release. The sentences range from three months to one year.

The camp has no barred windows and only minimal security, so a number of inmates walk away each year. The county Probation Department, which operates Los Pinos, said last year’s tally was 20. In most cases, the youths return home and are quickly taken into custody.

Probation officers say it is easier to work with juveniles in a setting like Los Pinos than it would be in a larger institution with barred windows and doors and more hardened criminals whose influence could affect the juveniles.

Several other possible uses for Los Pinos have been suggested, but so far none appears more compelling. The Probation Department should be allowed to continue doing a good job in the forest.