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County report: no pregnant youth remain in probation facilities; supervisors call to sustain community placements
Summary
Supervisors and Probation Department officials reported that, as of Dec. 18, no pregnant justice-involved youth remain in county probation facilities and described efforts to place pregnant youth in community settings; supervisors urged that the approach be applied more broadly to reduce youth custody populations.
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told the board the county had recently expedited transfers of pregnant youth from custody into community placements and highlighted the work of probation, the public defender and community partners. "As of December 18, we no longer have pregnant youth in probation facilities," Horvath said, urging continued development of community placements and supports (SEG 2831'SEG 2840).
Kim Binion, senior director and superintendent (Campus Vernon Kilpatrick and Dorothy Kirby Center), described the "Ending Girls Incarceration" initiative and said the probation department is coordinating with community-based organizations including Young Women's Freedom Center, Beloved Village and the Vera Institute to create sustainable community placement options and care (SEG 2888'SEG 2910).
Supervisor Mitchell and others praised the cross-agency coordination and asked departments to provide follow-up numbers on the reduction in girl and gender-expansive youth populations. Probation said it would provide requested figures to the board (SEG 2916'SEG 2926). The board received the report and the item was handled as "receive and file." No policy change or budget appropriation was adopted during the meeting.
Supervisors and advocates said the approach could serve as a model for other depopulation efforts and urged that lessons learned be applied to broader juvenile-justice reforms. Department staff and supervisors acknowledged this is an ongoing process and committed to returning with more information and status updates to the board.
