Inmate, 17, Hanged Self, Officials Say

A Redlands teenager serving a three-year term for robbery at the state prison in Tehachapi hanged himself in his cell this week, prompting new concerns about the placement of young criminals in adult lockups.

Francis Ray, 17, was found dead early Tuesday during a routine check, prison officials said. Sent to Tehachapi late last year, he had been in an isolation cell for disciplinary reasons since February, deprived of normal privileges such as television, a radio and access to education and other programs, a prison spokesman said.

Ray, who used his bedsheets to hang himself, had not been on suicide watch, authorities said. But they would not comment further on his condition or why he was housed alone and in an isolation unit.

Checked, as scheduled, by staff about 90 minutes before he was discovered dead, Ray had not exhibited unusual behavior, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

“Any suicide is regrettable,” he added. He declined to say whether Ray had attempted suicide before or was on medication, citing the confidentiality of inmate medical records.

State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who has asked corrections officials for a report on the case, said Ray had been diagnosed with mental problems and should have been under heightened supervision.

She called the case tragic and said it raised questions about whether the department “is adequately grappling with mental health problems of inmates, especially juveniles.” Romero, chairwoman of a prison oversight committee, plans to address the case at a hearing later this summer on conditions for juveniles in the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail.

The death marked the first suicide of a minor in adult prison since young offenders were grouped at Tehachapi, in Kern County, after passage of Proposition 21. The 2000 voter initiative opened more avenues for sending young criminals into adult prison, reflecting a hardening of public attitudes toward violence-prone youths.

Ray was one of 136 juveniles serving time in Tehachapi’s Young Offender Program, which houses youths separately from adult convicts. Statistics from late May show that, of that group, 27 were convicted of murder, 54 of robbery, 31 of assault with a deadly weapon, and the rest of sex crimes and other felonies.

Advocates for young offenders said they were disturbed to hear that Ray’s crime -- second-degree robbery -- and relatively short sentence had landed him at Tehachapi, and they questioned whether an adult prison was the best place for him.

Ray’s probation report made no reference to a prior criminal record, according to the prosecutor on the case, and his only known relative was his mother, who is a parolee at large.

“I think the public has the impression that adult prison is where we put the most serious, violent juveniles, the ones the system has given up on,” said Sue Burrell, staff attorney with the nonprofit Youth Law Center. “But this kid? Convicted of a robbery and from a terribly disadvantaged background? Should we really have given up on him?”

Different Goals

Burrell noted that the adult correctional system focuses on punishment, whereas the California Youth Authority has an emphasis on rehabilitation.

That distinction prompted the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to declare the placement of adolescents in adult prisons “detrimental to the health and developmental well-being of youth.”

“Incarcerating adolescents in adult correctional facilities ignores the fact that the growth and developmental changes that occur in adolescence are substantially different from those that occur in adults,” said the commission, a nonprofit that works to improve health care for the incarcerated. “Adolescents are at an increased risk for developing depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms,” along with “self-mutilating behavior, suicide attempts, psychotic symptoms and aggressive behaviors toward others.”

Ray’s prosecution in adult court was recommended by the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office, where officials weigh numerous aspects of a defendant’s background and crime.

The matter then went to a hearing before a Juvenile Court judge, who agreed.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick Christianson said Ray was charged with three counts of second-degree robbery, two counts of false imprisonment and one count of evading police stemming from incidents on Jan. 1 and 2, 2002, two weeks after he turned 16.

Christianson said Ray took a jacket and cell phone at knifepoint in a Redlands park, and later, apparently without the knife, confronted two people at a pizza restaurant and stole cash and their car. Police pursued the car, and Ray was arrested after crashing it.

Ray pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree robbery and was sent to Tehachapi on Nov. 26, a few weeks before turning 17. His court-appointed defense attorney did not return telephone calls Wednesday.

Under the law, robbery is one of about 30 felonies for which prosecutors may seek to move juveniles into adult court. Among the elements prosecutors weigh are the nature of the crime, the age of the minor, a prior record and whether the juvenile system can successfully treat the youth.

Bob Guzzino, San Bernardino County’s supervising deputy district attorney in the juvenile division, said he was not familiar with the case and could not comment because Ray was a minor. “As a general rule, we do a weighing and evaluation of the case and then make a decision whether to recommend it be kicked upstairs,” he said.

In Los Angeles County, the head deputy district attorney in the juvenile division, Sandy Buttitta, said the process in her office is much the same. Asked to evaluate the decision in Ray’s case, she said: “Based on the charges, it certainly sounds like a candidate” for adult court.

Advocates for young offenders said that, although the law may permit such diversions, incarceration in adult facilities may not always be the wisest choice -- especially for youths with mental problems.

David Steinhart, a juvenile justice consultant who has served on suicide prevention task forces, noted that even in the California Youth Authority -- with its staff specifically trained to handle disturbed teenagers -- suicides happen, including one just last month.

“Our state has entered a bold new frontier of putting kids in adult prison in greater numbers,” Steinhart said. “That’s a new zone of risk, and we’d better be on guard and be sure they’re well-protected.”

Higher Risks

Burrell, whose organization litigates on behalf of incarcerated children, said research shows that youths in adult facilities are at higher risk of suicide.

“I think a lot of kids just give up hope when they go to adult facilities,” she said. “A kid this young -- 16 when he went in -- he sees only the bleakness right in front of him, the message that you are bad, and that everyone has given up on you. It’s easy to see that he must have felt utterly alone in the world, with nothing to look forward to.”

Ray’s suicide comes as officials in Los Angeles County are examining the wisdom of confining minors at Men’s Central Jail. At any given time, as many as 44 of the 150 local youths being tried as adults are housed in a high-security wing of the jail, confined up to 23 1/2 hours a day in 4-by-8-foot cells. The remaining minors being tried as adults in the county are held at juvenile halls.

Last month, two teenagers in the jail attempted suicide. Both youths, convicted of felonies, have since been sent to state prisons, where they have been held in crisis-care beds because of their deteriorating mental conditions, officials said.

*

Times staff writer Greg Krikorian contributed to this report.