Published by Witness LA
Two years ago, on March 7, 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed the LA County Probation Department to develop what they called a “Global Plan” to reorganize and move incarcerated youth between the county’s juvenile halls and camps. The board wanted this plan to address an influx of kids from the state’s youth prison system — then in the process of permanently shutting down — as well as a host of problems causing substandard care of youth who were already in the county’s facilities.
Last week, the Youth Justice Coalition and [Young Women’s Freedom Center] continued to put pressure on the supervisors and the probation department to toss out the Global Plan. Members of YJC, many of whom have personal experience with the county’s criminal legal system, are urging the board and probation officials to forget about shuffling kids around and instead prioritize decarceration.
This piece of the plan goes against the LA County Board of Supervisors’ commitment to the decarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth by this year, DeAnna Pittman, Program Manager of Youth Leadership and Policy at the Young Women’s Freedom Center pointed out during the public comment period of the Probation Commission meeting. Her organization, she said, was very concerned about the plan to move all girls and gender-expansive youth to Camp Kilpatrick. “It’s now 2025, and we’re talking about solidifying and cementing” the incarceration of these youth, Pittman said. Instead, time and resources should be put into “finding girls and gender expansive youth who can come home today.”
