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California Youth Authority
"At times I had to attend class or group counseling while sitting in a small, dirty cage about the size of a telephone booth."
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to this Commentary!
By Jacquinn Scales
I first went into C.Y.A. when I was 16. I threatened a staff member at the group home where I was staying and I already had numerous probation violations against me. My first sentence was 18 months.
I mostly kept to myself in C.Y.A. and I never joined a gang. But some C.Y.A. staff still tagged me as a Bay Area gang member because of where I'm from, and, I think, because of my race. It made it easier for them to punish me and add more time onto my sentence.
When I look back on my experience in the C.Y.A. system, it literally makes me sick to my stomach. At times I had to attend class or group counseling while sitting in a small, dirty cage about the size of a telephone booth. Being in that cage was hot and frustrating. They never let you forget you were a criminal.
The psychologists who were supposed to provide treatment were often your worst enemies. If you really told them how you felt, they could turn around and use it against you before the review board.
I suppose you could say it's just the way the system works. But I found C.Y.A. policies and its talk about rehabilitation to be as real as a three-dollar bill.
That's not to say I haven't changed. But what I learned while I was in C.Y.A. I mostly learned from myself and from reading books. I can't give many C.Y.A. staff credit for the transitions I've made in my life thus far. They think the most important thing is keeping dangerous youth under strict control, but they don't do enough to really help them change their behavior through more therapeutic methods.
Personally, I think C.Y.A. needs to be shut down and not open again until they can really do what they're supposed to: rehabilitate youth who have been in trouble.
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