California probation chiefs are calling for the state to launch an investigation into what’s been happening at the Department of Juvenile Justice in its waning months, saying youths who recently served time in the state lockups have returned home addicted to fentanyl, covered in tattoos and suffering from untreated medical conditions.
As of July 1, DJJ no longer exists — young people accused of crimes will now serve their sentences in county juvenile halls and at local programs. The change, which officials have been preparing for the past several years, comes after a sharp drop in the number of young people committing crimes in California and reforms to how youth offenders are sentenced. It follows years of allegations of violence and abuse at DJJ.
In recent years, state officials have insisted that many of those problems at DJJ were resolved, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for a shuttering of the state agency. But probation chiefs in both Sacramento and Shasta counties told KQED this week that they and other probation chiefs around the state are appalled at what they’re hearing about how youth and correctional officers were allowed to behave at DJJ facilities.
Probation departments oversee juvenile justice at the local level in all of California’s 58 counties.
Shasta County Probation Chief Tracie Neal said young people returning to her county reported that they have not been receiving rehabilitative programming in recent months, spent “excessive” time locked up in their rooms, and were aided in illegal behavior by the DJJ staff.
“We had our youth share that correctional staff were providing the youth with contraband, whether it was with tattoo equipment items or drugs or alcohol,” she said. “One youth in particular — he left us with no tattoos and he came back and he has tattoos all over his face, his neck, his arms. And he has shared with us that he was able to build tattoo guns within DJJ. He was even allowed different contraband from the correctional officers to assure that he had the access to what he needed to do.”
Sacramento Probation Chief Marlon Yarber said one young person who never struggled with drug use before going to DJJ returned to local custody addicted to fentanyl. He said DJJ staff called his staff to alert them to the problem and let them know that the youth had overdosed twice while at DJJ and had to be revived using Narcan.
