Calif. Juvenile Detention Center Uses Excessive Force, Class Action Says

A California juvenile detention facility was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging “ongoing and pervasive” discrimination against youth with disabilities.

Lead plaintiffs, including young people with disabilities and their parents, say that the facilities in Kern County fail to offer a supportive and rehabilitative environment to those in their care. Instead, alleges the juvenile detention class action, staff members use punitive practices and promote a climate characterized by fear.

The plaintiffs include teenaged residents of Kern County juvenile detention facilities with disabilities that affect their daily life, including mental health, behavioral, learning, intellectual, and developmental disabilities.

According to the class action lawsuit, youth with disabilities potentially make up 90 percent of those in juvenile detention facilities. The Kern County facilities, including the James G. Bowles Juvenile Hall and the Larry J. Rhoades Kern Crossroads Facility, house approximately 250 youth.

The class action lawsuit alleges that staff at Kern County juvenile correctional facilities use pepper spray on nonviolent youth, as well punishments that isolate and intimidate. The plaintiffs say that use of these punishments is routine and excessive and are used for even minor infractions.

“This situation is all the more difficult for the many young people with mental health, behavioral, learning, intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities held at the Juvenile Hall complex or Crossroads, including the many who are survivors of significant trauma,” points out the juvenile detention class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs say that the situations at these facilities are a far cry from the rehabilitative and supportive environment required under state and federal standards for juvenile offenders. Young people’s rights to educational opportunities are also curtailed by the oppressive environment, according to the juvenile detention class action.

“Staff routinely punish these young people – including through the use of isolation, restraint, and chemical force – for behavior related to their disabilities,” continues the class action lawsuit. “Because of their disabilities, these youth are uniquely vulnerable to the adverse effects of such punitive practices, which can exacerbate preexisting mental health conditions and, in a vicious cycle, increase the likelihood of further disciplinary incidents.”

“In addition, Defendants deny young people with disabilities appropriate psychiatric and mental health services and adequate reentry planning – supports that they need to access the rehabilitative and educational opportunities available.”

The plaintiffs seek to represent youth with disabilities held at either Kern County facilities. They say they seek to end the county’s ongoing and unlawful discrimination against incarcerated youth with disabilities.

“Youth at Kern Juvenile Facilities may have been beaten by their parents, abused physically and/or sexually, witnessed violence in the home or street, or placed in foster care and forced to grieve for lost family connections,” points out the class action lawsuit. “For these youth, isolation, pain, and physical touch may trigger memories of prior victimization, betrayal, or abandonment.”

“When youth re-experience trauma in a juvenile facility, they may become hyper-vigilant, or engage in self-destructive or aggressive behavior to distract, avoid, or otherwise reduce their feelings from the trauma response. Re-traumatizing children makes them more resistant, more aggressive, and less likely to respond to rehabilitation.”

The class action lawsuit alleges that the climate and practices at Kern County juvenile detention facilities violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as state law.

The plaintiffs are represented by Melinda Bird and Carly Munson of Disability Rights California and Thomas Zito and Freya Pitts of Disability Rights Advocates.

The California Juvenile Detention Class Action Lawsuit is T.G., et al. v. Kern County, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-00257-DAD-JLT, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.