Interview responses from incarcerated youth and their families helped shape a new plan that the Santa Barbara County Probation Department recently drafted.
The 2022 Juvenile Justice Realignment Plan outlines a variety of programs and policies designed to provide appropriate rehabilitation for individuals who have been realigned from the state’s care back to county-based custody. This change came about due to a recent Senate bill that moves the responsibility of detained youth to their respective counties.
Under the proposed plan, youth in county custody would have more space to exercise and increased incentives for good behavior. The facility’s staff would also be proactive in communicating with families and guardians.
Deputy Chief Probation Officer Kimberly Shean presented the realignment plan during the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council’s Nov. 12 meeting. Shean explained that many of the plan’s initiatives were directly inspired by feedback from surveys and interviews conducted during a six-month research period.
“The youth talked about the importance of amenities and recreational programming,” Shean said. “The families talked about wanting to have more information and contact from the juvenile facility staff and understanding how their child is doing, what they’re involved in.”
To address the recreation concern, the realignment plan includes a blueprint of a proposed recreational outdoor space at the Susan J. Gionfriddo Juvenile Justice Center in Santa Maria. That outdoor space would include a soccer field and individual workout stations where detainees can exercise. The space would also facilitate outdoor visits with youth and their family members.
In terms of amenities, the plan describes a point-based incentive program, in which youth carry an “excellent behavior card” for supervisors to mark as a reward for positive behavior.
One of the ranked incentives is eligibility to apply for the “trust unit,” a living space where detainees have more access to personal items and other freedoms, Shean explained.
“Their doors are unlocked and open during the day. They’re able to go in and outside. So there’s definitely opportunities for leadership and more independence and improved decision-making,” Shean said, while discussing the trust unit.
To help keep families informed about their youth, the realignment plan includes a description of a youth development coach who’s responsible for making weekly contact with the guardians of their assigned detainees.
“We’ve been in the mode of ‘we call the parents for visiting,’ or ‘we call the parents to come pick their child up,’ but this is a whole new frontier for our staff, and it’s ongoing engagement,” Shean said.
At the end of the Nov. 12 meeting, members of both the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Committee and its Juvenile Justice Realignment Subcommittee voted unanimously to approve the plan. Chief Probation Officer Tanja Heitman said a finalized version of the realignment plan will move forward to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to hear a presentation on the plan at its Dec. 14 meeting.
This article appears in Nov 18-25, 2021.
