By Michael Ertola, Chief Probation Officer
California State Assembly Passed Public Safety SB 1004 on June 28, 2016, to allow five California counties to implement a pilot program to house Transitional Age Youth (18-21 years old) in their Juvenile Halls. The five counties include Nevada, Napa, Butte, Santa Clara and Alameda.
The Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) sponsored bill SB 1004 to provide appropriate housing, programs and services needed by Transitional Age Youth. SB 1004 will allow the Nevada County Probation Department to implement a three year pilot program to house Transitional Age Youth offenders in the Juvenile Hall instead of county jail. The Board of State and Community Corrections will be responsible for overseeing institutional requirements associated with housing and programming.
In summary, all 18-21 year old youth arrested on new felony charges will be assessed in the jail by probation staff. If found eligible and amenable for the program, the youth will be transported to the Carl F. Bryan Juvenile Hall where they will be housed and programmed completely separate from current juvenile minors. The benefits for the Transitional Age Youth (TAY) population is they won’t be housed with a more sophisticated, criminal element (harm reduction) in the county jail and they will receive services in and out of custody not currently available in the county jail. These services include, but not limited to, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Moral Reconation Therapy, Mental Health Therapy, Education, and Vocational Training.
Some requirements that come with the pilot program are: TAY population must be housed and programmed separate from juvenile minors; cannot serve more than one year in detention; offenders must plead guilty for diversion program; charges dismissed after successful completion of probation; track specific outcomes and report to Department of Justice (DOJ). No extra county funding is anticipated for this program while savings are anticipated in the jail with the reduction of this population transferred the Juvenile Hall.
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