County awarded $18M for youth detention camp

With budget worries rippling through the county, finally some good news.

The Stanislaus County Probation Department is slated to receive $18 million to build a 60-bed juvenile camp for youth offenders, officials announced Monday.

The county came in first in its category of applicants for state funding, outscoring four other midsized counties and getting more than half of the $35 million available. And, boy, did we need it.

Of the 20 most populous counties in the state, Stanislaus is the only one without a juvenile camp, said Jerry Powers, chief probation officer for the county.

Stanislaus County ranks 40th of the 58 California counties for juvenile beds available per capita, he said. The county has 158 beds in Juvenile Hall.

Tuolumne County also won big. It was awarded $16 million, outranking four small counties that applied for a total of $30 million.

The state money represents a shift in thinking about how to handle many youth offenders, authorities say, and emphasizes a local approach.

Counties send youth convicted of the most serious offenses to facilities run by the state's Department of Juvenile Justice. Large counties with secure juvenile camps send only the worst offenders. Small and midsized counties such as Stanislaus send a handful of less serious felony offenders, too, because they have no long-term lockups of their own.

Juvenile halls are meant for short-term custody, about three to four weeks, before trial. After sentencing, juvenile camps offer more resources for youth who must spend six to nine months in custody.

The camps also allow kids to stay close to home, getting parents involved in the treatment program, Powers said.

The camp will offer mental health and drug treatment options, as well as vocational training and a culinary arts program. Powers said he hopes to start a tech program to teach computer repair skills. In the future, he said, he'd like to see local companies offer mentoring and training opportunities.

About 20 Stanislaus County officials visited the state funding committee Feb. 18 to request the money.

Law officials praise project

Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden was among them. He said Monday he hopes that having a local facility will help youth be accountable "so they don't take that next step to the worse thing."

Birgit Fladager, Stanislaus County's district attorney, said keeping the youth closer will let probation officers decide "how the children should best be monitored and programmed so they don't end up in the adult system."

On March 19, a Sacramento board will ratify the funding recommendation. The Stanislaus County facility is anticipated to open in 2012.

Powers said that keeping youth longer will lead to a more personalized treatment grounded at the community level, which should build the framework for success down the line.

"We really have to look at the kid from two perspectives. There are the risk factors that make them do some of these delinquent things. But they also have characteristics that allow them to resist risk-type behaviors," he said. "Ours is a comprehensive job, to target the risk factors, but build on the areas that make them resilient, which leads to a stronger person overall."

Bee staff writer Emilie Raguso can be reached at eraguso@modbee.com or 578-2235.