California Juvenile Facilities See Continuing Covid Rise

A staggering 1 in 4 youth incarcerated in California’s prison system for juvenile offenders has been infected with the deadly coronavirus, a grim tally that has grown amid recent outbreaks.

The San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice reports that those numbers include most of the roughly 40 young people housed at the lower-security Pine Grove fire camp in rural Amador County. As a result, they have been transferred to the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility in San Joaquin County to quarantine in vacant prison cells. 

Mike Sicilia, a spokesperson for the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), said he was unable to confirm the names of the facilities where juvenile offenders tested positive for coronavirus, due to privacy issues. 

But he noted that greater protections will result from vaccinations that are now underway. More than 250 detention facility staff are among the first Californians to receive the initial wave of available doses.

The recent infections follow several COVID-19 outbreaks last summer at the state’s juvenile lockups, which house the most serious offenders sent by counties, renewing calls for some youth to be released home and supervised in their communities.

Read the full article as it originally appeared at LA Progressive