April 1--- A film of the brutal beating of two young men by guards in a California Youth Authority (CYA) facility was released to the public today, the evening day activists held a public meeting to demand the CYA be shut down and funding go towards community programs for youth instead. The meeting was well attended by media, activists, former CYA inmates and family members of youth in the CYA.

The tape of the beating was released by Senator Romero, chairwomyn of the Senate committee on prisons, in an attempt to force the state to do something about the ongoing brutality in the CYA. This tape, which apparently was made and saved without the knowledge of the guards, was the only evidence of this incident. The guards filed false reports charging the youth with assault, and the youth were afraid to come forward for fear of reprisal. If it was not for the tape, this incident would have been like others that happen every day in CYA where youth are brutalized by the guards and no one finds out. In spite of the tape, and a 40 page internal affairs report released in late March detailing the attack and concluding that six CYA officials should be prosecuted for their role in the brutality(1), no CYA employees have been charged with any crimes.

This tape bolsters the reports released in January from eleven independent experts which found that the CYA failed to meet expected criteria for operation in 21 out of 22 categories evaluated. The report came out to the public in February after two young men were found dead in their CYA cell. But this information is not new. For years people have been fighting the abuses in the CYA and nothing has changed. MIM applauds Senator Romero for taking steps to move beyond committee meetings and hearings. Information about the prisons system abuses must be made public so that the people can be outraged and force change.

The public meeting condemning the CYA as "Bad for Youth" was organized by two local activist organizations: Let's Get Free and Books not Bars (BNB). A BNB speaker opened the meeting proclaiming that the beating captured on the tape "is an outrage that happens all the time." Speakers at the event described the brutality in CYA. CYA facilities force youth into gangs, as a classification formality and for self-defense. They put youth on drugs to keep them quiet, or force them to take drugs to cope with the torture. Families who visit are strip searched, and many times turned away for ridiculous reasons like having a bobby pin in the hair or wearing a shirt that is tight. There is virtually no education or other programming, and youth are taught that they will be failures in life and have no hope of accomplishing anything.

The CYA costs $80,000 per incarcerated youth, the total CYA budget is $385 million per year. The BNB speaker declared the goal of their campaign to shut down the 10 CYA prisons and force the state to invest that money into real rehabilitation for youth. Underscoring the message from all the speakers that the CYA can not be reformed but must be torn down she declared "this is not an aberration, it is a systematic problem."

The father of one of the two young men found dead in their cell, Durrell Feaster, spoke about his outrage at the system that killed his son. He explained that Durrell died because "in order to shut him up they had to kill him." Mr. Feaster was aware of the torture his son was undergoing in CYA. "They were beating him down, locking him up, macing him, they were killing him." But in spite of this information, Mr. Feaster found what many parents of youth locked in CYA learn: it is dangerous for their children if they speak out against the system. "Every time I spoke for him, he could get in trouble."

The mother of a boy in CYA supported this message. Her son tried to kill himself because he couldn't take the abuse in CYA. They didn't bother to tell her. She found out when she visited, and then CYA authorities told her that her son was just a mama's boy trying to get attention. She also explained that her son was classified as a gang member based on his nationality even though he had never been involved with any gangs. This is consistent with the practice across the California Department of Corrections in both youth and adult facilities, where new prisoners are immediately classified into a gang based on their nationality and where they are from.

A young man who was locked up in CYA for five years spoke about his experience. He explained that kids don't tell their parents about beatings because the kids don't want repercussions. He learned nothing useful in CYA, but "I learned every gang in the state thanks to YA." He explained why we need to eliminate the CYA: "you can't reform YA, you can't reform something that has a faulty foundation^? It would be a crime not to do anything about YA right now."

San Francisco's public defender, Jeff Adachi, spoke at the public meeting. Adachi is known for his progressive and dedicated work fighting injustice in the prison system. He not only spoke eloquently about the injustices in CYA and the need to shut it down, but also stayed after the meeting to hand out flyers about an upcoming juvenile justice summit being held by the public defender's office. This activism is worth recognizing in a country where most people believe that holding public office means only doing what is needed within the job and for the money.

Adachi explained the work he had done in recent months to get the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pass a resolution declaring a moratorium on sending youth to CYA. This was the first county to take a stand against the CYA and eleven other counties state wide have followed suit and counties are now beginning to pass official bans on sending youth to CYA. Recently a team from the Public Defenders office began visits to CYA. They made the first trip to the Preston facility the day before this meeting. This team found conditions even worse than what was reported by the experts.

Adachi was clear that in spite of the progressive actions and the publicity and reports about CYA brutality, nothing has changed. He recalled a hearing 10 years ago where the same issues were discussed before the Senate. In an article he wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, Adachi explained in detail the historical failure of the system even while it admits it's failures. The best we have heard so far is that the new director of the CYA, appointed by Governor Schwarzennegger in December of 2003, pledged to begin phasing out his staff's use of iron cages to house youth. Adachi concluded his speech "We have to create an unprecedented show of force now."

The public meeting was brought to closure with footage of Missouri youth rehabilitation centers. In 1983 Missouri closed their youth prison and replaced it with rehab centers that each house no more than 40 people, run by youth specialists. The conditions in these centers are far from prison- like. Rather than dehumanizing the kids, they focus on education and problem solving. Showers have curtains, youth get a closet to put their belongings in, a reasonable number of youth share a room, and extensive programming is offered to help the youth deal with their problems and build a better life when they get out. There is a 3% recidivism rate among youth in the Missouri program, this compares with rates in California cited as between 40% to 80%. This program was offered up as a model by BNB.

MIM has not investigated the program in Missouri but we can agree with activists, the SF Public Defender, and State Senator Gloria Romero in calling for the complete dismantling and elimination of the California Youth Authority. Studies have repeatedly proven that people, and particularly youth, will learn from their environment. CYA teaches youth to be criminals. But a study several years ago of 15 "incorrigibles" selected by the CYA and provided with positive training, demonstrated tremendous improvement in recidivism, and success in education and the workplace relative to their peers in CYA.

We can also conclude that the money put into state-run youth prisons would be much better spent if it was put in the hands of independent community programs providing education and political activism for the youth of California.

MIM and RAIL will be attending the upcoming protest of CYA as a part of our campaign against the entire criminal injustice system:

Wednesday, April 28, 7-8pm
Candlelight Vigil for Teen Deaths in California's Youth Prison System
Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland (Downtown, 12th street BART)