State Outlines Four-Year Reform Plan For Youth Prisons
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Sacramento, CA — California is agreeing to revamp the way it incarcerates juvenile offenders by using smaller and more modern lockups to replace its current warehouse-style prisons.
The state already faces expensive reforms to its adult prison system and in the way it manages inmate health care.
This year´s state budget includes $100 million to hire more youth prison employees and to convert and improve living quarters for the state´s 3,000 youth offenders.
As part of a lawsuit settlement, the state is committing to house no more than 38 wards in any of its housing units, about half what they were designed to hold.
In the long term, the department is looking to replace its outdated prisons with smaller, more modern facilities.
