Human rights violations in our own backyard (CA)

[struggle4progress]

Sumayyah Waheed
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Dec. 10 marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As we call on our global leaders to renew our commitments to universal justice and dignity, Californians must examine how we treat our youth.

California runs one of the worst, most expensive youth prison systems in the nation. As we celebrate a document proclaiming that childhood is "entitled to special care and assistance," policymakers must seize this opportunity to establish an effective, comprehensive system of care for troubled youth that fulfills our human rights obligations.

The state Division of Juvenile Justice is notorious for guard beatings, preventable suicides, filthy conditions and nonexistent programming. Young people held in its warehouse-like prisons regularly suffer violence, abuse and neglect. The systems costs more than $436 million a year - equaling an outrageous $241,400 per youth. Even more outrageous is the division's 72 percent recidivism rate - among the worst in the nation.

In 2004, California settled a lawsuit against the division for inhumane conditions. Four years later, the judge has found that conditions are still deplorable and juvenile justice is in gross violation of the settlement. Youth prison conditions not only violate the court settlement - they also are rife with human rights violations ... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/09/ED5S14KPD6.DTL

[bemildred]

1. "$241,400 per youth"

This sort of thing makes even the Pentagon look good. What a racket.