Juvenile inspections praise James Ranch, call for more data and wraparound services; committee to receive use-of-force and grievance aggregates

The Santa Clara County Probation Department and the Juvenile Justice Commission presented annual inspection reports for Juvenile Hall, the William F. James Ranch and the Secure Youth Treatment Facility to the Public Safety and Justice Committee on Jan. 17.

Deputy Chief Jill Ugalde described the inspections and thanked the commission for oversight. Juvenile Justice Commission Chair Stephen Betts told the committee the commission was “very impressed” with the probation department’s work, called several recommendations helpful, and said the county’s programs compare favorably with other counties. Commissioners asked the department to expand and standardize data collection to measure outcomes.

Committee members asked for aggregated, publicly shareable data on grievances and use-of-force incidents, and Ugalde said some data must remain confidential because of juveniles but that aggregate reporting could be provided. The committee asked probation to provide use-of-force reports to PSJC (the committee already provides them to the Children, Seniors and Families Committee) and to develop a clean, comparable side-by-side summary comparing James Ranch and Juvenile Hall on incidence metrics, services and outcomes. Probation staff cautioned that court placement decisions and the different purposes of the two facilities limit direct comparability.

Members also discussed emergency mutual-aid options for evacuations. Probation said the county has used mutual aid with Santa Cruz County in the past and can move youth between county facilities when necessary; the administration said a holistic facility assessment will include emergency capacity and continuity-of-operations planning.

Commissioners and committee members noted gaps in housing stability for youth leaving secure treatment. Supervisor Otto Lee said the Board of Supervisors recently approved a contract with the Bill Wilson Center to provide transitional housing for secure-track youth and expressed interest in monitoring capacity and outcomes.

The Juvenile Justice Commission praised the Secure Youth Treatment Facility’s rapid development after state program changes and recommended continued data collection to demonstrate outcomes. Committee members asked about recidivism tracking; probation staff said they present recidivism data to juvenile oversight bodies and that most youth who reoffend do so within three to six months after release, with limited increases thereafter. Committee members asked probation and partners to coordinate on longer-term outcome measures and to return with additional, cleaned data in the months ahead. The committee voted to receive the inspection and treatment facility reports.