Oakland, California - Two local activist organizations, Books Not Bars (BNB) and youth-based Let's Get Free, hosted a candlelight vigil on the evening of April 28, 2004, in memory of teenagers Durrell Feaster and Deon Whitfield who were found hanged in their shared cell at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility on January 19, 2004. On the hundredth day after their deaths, a total of nine vigils were held statewide during which protesters demanded that the California Youth Authority (CYA) not merely be reformed, but shut down completely. As one former CYA inmate says, "You can't reform YA, you can't reform something that has a faulty foundation." (1)

Oppressed nation youth were instrumental in organizing and participating in the vigil. Talking about the SHU and the CYA, most were outraged by what was going on, making broad connections between the police, the prisons and the war on Iraq. One former ward of the CYA that RAIL spoke to, told us about a friend who was attacked by another ward who was payed by the the CYA staff to attack him. The attacker is willing to testify that this is what happened and he is currently searching for legal representation and media coverage for his friend. The same person had another friend who was harrassed and denied yard time by the staff because he was bisexual. RAIL asked if they could receive papers like MIM Notes in the youth facilities since subscriptions are free to all prisoners. But s/he said that they were prevented from receiving any news from the outside, especially in response to recent efforts by the youth to reach out to the media. In this respect, conditions are worse than the adult prisons in California where prisoners usually receive our mail.

The CYA has recently come under intense criticism for its widespread humyn rights abuses which include locking youth in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, for months at a time, without probable cause; similar to the practices in Security Housing Units (SHU) found in California prisons such as Pelican Bay State Prison and Corcoran State Prison. Youth were also discovered to be locked in 4' x 4' cells during instruction and counseling. (2) On April 1, 2004, video footage of guards brutally beating two young men at the Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility was released to the public and the people were outraged. In late March, a 40-page internal affairs report was also released, detailing the attack and concluding that the six CYA officials involved should be prosecuted. (3) However, on April 26, 2004, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer chose to not prosecute any of those involved, stating that he "doesn't have enough evidence." (4)

Despite these recent events, demonstrators have not shown any intention of giving up and neither have the state officials who support shutting down the CYA, California State Senator Gloria Romero. In Oakland, Councilmember Nancy Nadell and representatives for District 4 supervisor Nate Miley and District 5 supervisor Keith Carson delivered statements of solidarity with the protesters. Nadell also brought up the urgency to reform California's adult prisons. RAIL comrades were present to show solidarity for shutting down the CYA and additionally to educate protesters about the equally brutal conditions in the SHU. Participants were eager to sign our petition to shut down the SHU in California. (5) We gathered about 100 signatures and passed out the latest issue of MIM Notes, which included MIM's new pamphlet on Control Units/SHUs. (6)