prison

California Assembly Bill 417 would expand college opportunities for people who are currently or formerly incarcerated, if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

State and local governments are limping into a second year facing off with budgets decimated by the coronavirus. In New York state, some lawmakers are eyeing one item freighted with financial and moral burdens: the sky-high cost of youth prisons. In November, The Imprint reported on the escalating expenses at state-operated detention facilities that have reached an annual average of nearly $900,000 per youth.

Two decades ago, justice reformers Paul DeMuro and Bart Lubow toured a Cleveland juvenile detention facility with corrections officials. As the group discussed policy and practice while walking along one of the prison-like tiers, DeMuro wandered over to where a young teenager was being held in solitary confinement.  

There’s good reason to celebrate justice system reform for young people. From the period of 2003-2013, the number of young people in the juvenile justice system has declined by 47 percent, and the number of youth in adult court has also declined.

The California legislature has passed a bill that prevents juveniles 15 or younger from being transferred into adult court for any crime, a dramatic turnaround in a state that used to give wide discretion to prosecutors in seeking adult time for youths.

“In Kenya they have a greeting, and that greeting is, ‘How are the children?’’’ said Pastor Patricia Sealy during a panel on day one of the inaugural National Children of Incarcerated Parents conference in Phoenix.

The HBO news series “Vice” will air a one-hour special tonight on the juvenile justice system and how it connects to the broader issue of mass incarceration in America. “Raised in the System” features a segment on Lucas County (Toledo), Ohio, where officials have developed a continuum of community-based alternatives designed to steer most youth away from pre-trial detention and post-adjudication commitments to juvenile facilities.

In Youth Services Insider’s opinion, there are two glaring blind spots when it comes to data about how the child welfare and juvenile justice systems impact kids. One is the success rate of adoptions from foster care.

After a plan to create a new young adult prison system in California failed last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is moving forward with two proposals to serve more juveniles and some young adults in the state’s juvenile prisons.