By Jeremy Loudenback, The Imprint, July 22, 2021

Once the nation’s most vast youth prison system, California’s Division of Juvenile Justice stopped admissions this month — with the state’s highest level offenders headed for starkly different settings.

Instead of a cell block monitored by guards, Los Angeles County young people will soon be moved to detention camps, where formerly incarcerated men will mentor them alongside local probation officers.

El Dorado, Fresno and Sonoma counties are creating housing dedicated to youth charged with sex-related offenses. San Mateo County will specialize in the detention of young women who have committed serious and violent offenses at its 30-bed Margaret J. Kemp Camp, relying on restorative justice methods that combine treatment with accountability. Butte County’s probation department plans to buy new mattresses and weighted blankets to help the state’s toughest youth offenders get a better night’s sleep.

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