Serious Problems Festering in Juvenile Justice System Require Serious Reforms

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/may/02/opinion/oe-bell2

Alan Feaster said goodbye to his 18 year old son, Durrell, not knowing it would be the last time he ever saw him. Durrell was being sent to Preston training school run by the California Youth Authority. Just weeks after being admitted Durrell and his cellmate were found dead. Apparently he fell victim of a double suicide, an act of desperation that was connected to the conditions of the prison for troubled youth. The CYA struggles to reform the juvenile justice system and its abuses. At CYA a panel of experts reported high rates of violence, inadequate mental health and education services, overuse of isolation cells, and deplorable conditions, such as feces spread all over some of the cells. Some boys were even made to sit or stand in cages while attending classes.

I believe that abuse like this could be closely considered as cruel and unusual punishment and something needs to be done about situations like these. Institutions such as Preston Training School simply don't work. They are crowded, have high violence rates and are just keeping these kids from improving their lives. Institutions like these may be keeping kids off of the streets for a certain amount of time but they are not at all helping them to make changes to keep their lives on track once they are out of prison.In my opinion they are just making them worse.