Heman G Stark Youth Correctional Facility

The state is closing California's largest youth prison as the population of juvenile offenders in state custody continues to decline, corrections officials announced Thursday. The Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino will be converted into an adult prison, state officials said. The move is part of a plan to "right-size" staff at the Division of Juvenile Justice, which is reducing its workforce by 400 employees by the end of this year to save the state up to $40 million, said Bernard Warner, the chief deputy secretary for the division.

The state is closing California's largest youth prison as the population of juvenile offenders in state custody continues to decline, corrections officials announced Thursday. The Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino will be converted into an adult prison, state officials said. The move is part of a plan to "right-size" staff at the Division of Juvenile Justice, which is reducing its workforce by 400 employees by the end of this year to save the state up to $40 million, said Bernard Warner, the chief deputy secretary for the division.

On a broiling summer day four years ago, someone trapped a youth counselor in a mop closet at the young men's prison in Chino, then stabbed and strangled her. The killing of Ineasie M. Baker was at once unprecedented--the first of a peace officer in the history of the 55-year-old California Youth Authority--and yet somehow in keeping with the climate of the increasingly violent institution. The inmate accused of killing Baker went on trial for murder here last week.

On a broiling summer day four years ago, someone trapped a youth counselor in a mop closet at the young men's prison in Chino, then stabbed and strangled her. The killing of Ineasie M. Baker was at once unprecedented--the first of a peace officer in the history of the 55-year-old California Youth Authority--and yet somehow in keeping with the climate of the increasingly violent institution. The inmate accused of killing Baker went on trial for murder here last week.

"Holstein-Adjacent," May 13, described a new community in Chino called the Preserve. The article informed me about the size of the community, its amenities and its future plans. The article also listed some concerns about the close proximity of the Chino Airport and the dairy farms. I think it is also important to note the jails. The California Institution for Women is less than two miles away. And let's not forget about the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility across the street from the airport (also less than two miles from the Preserve)

James Ferris, who murdered two women including a Chino youth prison guard, no longer faces a possible death sentence as San Bernardino County prosecutors decided not to make a third attempt to have him condemned. Ferris killed guard Ineasie Baker, 42, of Rialto in August 1996 inside the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility as she was preparing to leave work. A jury convicted Ferris of the murder last year.

California's 11 youth prisons must improve medical and psychiatric clinics for 7,500 prisoners within the next two years under a court order issued this week. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay ordered improvements at California Youth Authority clinics, saying he was not convinced the agency would make legally required improvements without "coercion."

Good behavior is no longer enough to get a parole recommendation from the California Youth Authority. CYA wards are now required to earn their high school diploma or the educational equivalent before being paroled. "It could [cost more] in the short term to keep someone a few months longer, but our long-range plan is, if they don't come back to us, it will save $34,000 a year," said CYA spokeswoman Sarah Ludeman.

The concept and programs of the California Youth Authority are as valid today as they were in 1941 when 14-year-old Barney Lee, CYA ward No. 1, left San Quentin for a new training school in Whittier. Barney had been convicted for the murder of a cruel and violent uncle. The state assumed the role of parent for him under the idea of parens patriae (the state is the parent).

The superintendent of the state-run youth prison at Paso Robles, where investigators are probing allegations of abuse against wards, announced her resignation Wednesday. Kate Thompson's departure marks the third retirement of a high-level official from the California Youth Authority in two weeks.

About 3 out of every 25 youths in state and privately run juvenile correctional facilities have experienced at least one incident of sexual victimization, according to a federal study released Thursday. The study, which is the first of its kind, brings attention to the need for more training and accountability for staff members at such facilities, said Linda McFarlane, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, a nonprofit human rights organization that works on preventing abuse in detention centers.

Juries have twice failed to decide whether the convicted killer of a Chino youth prison guard should be executed, and San Bernardino County prosecutors are struggling with whether to try for the death penalty a third time. A judge declared a second mistrial in the penalty phase of the case Friday. Prosecutors said Monday that they would have to consider their prospects of convincing yet another jury that James Ferris, 29, deserves to die.