By Celeste Fremon, WitnessLA, May 18, 2020
On May 14, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a plan to close the state’s youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) — prison for kids.
This unexpected announcement, which was a part of the May revision of the Governor’s budget released last Thursday, proposes to stop taking any more youth into the DJJ system starting January 1, 2021—diverting them instead back to their individual counties.
Then, as young people gradually transition out to their new lives, with no new residents coming in, the governor will phase out all three youth prisons altogether, along with the state’s youth fire camp.
Comments (0)