L.A. Spends a Ton of Money to Treat Juveniles Poorly
A new report compares Los Angeles County’s Juvenile Hall to a “Third World country prison.”
The LA Times today writes up a scathing new report by a member of the Los Angeles County Probation Commission, which details a juvenile jail that is dirty, capricious, poorly run, unsanitary, and sometimes lacking running water. The report also questions LA’s use of solitary confinement for juveniles, a practice that is slowly being banned across the nation. And then there’s this:
A county audit recently found that the average cost of incarcerating a youth has soared to $233,600 a year, significantly higher than other comparable jurisdictions across the country. Experts are struggling to understand the reasons behind the high cost.
Two hundred and thirty three thousand dollars per year just to treat a young person like hell. That seems like a lot.
[Photo of county (not juvenile) jail: AP]
